Oliver works at a bookstore. He packed 20 identical paperbacks and 9 identical textbooks in a box. The total mass of the books was 44.4 pounds. After he put 1 more textbook and 5 more paperbacks in the box, the total mass of the books was 51 pounds.

Write a system of equations that can used to determine p, the mass, in pounds, of one paperback, and t, the mass, in pounds of one textbook.

Question

Mathematics

Rashad Ford

16 September, 01:56

Oliver works at a bookstore. He packed 20 identical paperbacks and 9 identical textbooks in a box. The total mass of the books was 44.4 pounds. After he put 1 more textbook and 5 more paperbacks in the box, the total mass of the books was 51 pounds.

Write a system of equations that can used to determine p, the mass, in pounds, of one paperback, and t, the mass, in pounds of one textbook.

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Answers (1)

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Missy · Answer 1

If we let p and t be the masses of the paper and textbook, respectively, the equations that would best represent the given in this item are:

(1) 20p + 9t = 44.4

(2) (20 + 5) p + (9 + 1) t = 51

The values of p and t from the equation are 0.6 and 3.6, respectively. Thus, each paperback weighs 0.6 pounds and each textbook weighs 3.6 pounds.