Kayla spent one hour ironing shirts and pants. it takes her 5 minutes to iron a shirt and only 3 to iron a pair of pants. if there were 16 items in the laundry, how many were shirts and how many were pants

6 Shirts and 10 Pants

Explanation:

Let the number of shirts = S and the number of pants = P

If it takes 5 mins to iron a shirt and there are S shirt, it will take 5S minutes to iron them

Similarly, if it takes 3 mins to iron a pant and there are P pants, it will take 3P mins to iron them.

Hence total time taken = 5S + 3P

= 1 hour = 60 mins

therefore 5S + 3P = 60 ... Equation 1

Since we are given that there are 16 items,

S + P = 16 ... Equation 2

solving equations 1 and 2 simultaneously,

5S + 3P = 60

S + P = 16

multiplying equation 2 by 3

3S + 3P = 48 ... Equation 3

5S + 3P = 60 ... Equation 1

3S + 3P = 48 ... Equation 3

Equation 1 - Equation 3

2S = 12

S = 6

S + P = 16

6 + P = 16

P = 10

Therefore, there are 6 Shirts and 10 Pants.