Question

I have a word problem due in the morning tomorrow. It has stumped me and one of my other teachers that I asked for help with. Here is the problem "The state fair is a popular field trip destination. This year the senior class at High School A and the senior class at High School B both planned trips there. The senior class at High School A rented and filled 8 vans and 8 buses with 240 students. High School B rented and filled 4 vans and 1 bus with 54 students. Every van had the same number of students in it as did the buses. Find the number of students in each van and bus."

Answer 1

Explanation:

Let the number of students in each van be "x" and the number of students in each bus be "y". We can then set up a system of equations to represent the given information:

From High School A: 8x + 8y = 240

From High School B: 4x + y = 54

We can use the second equation to solve for y in terms of x:

y = 54 - 4x

We can then substitute this expression for y into the first equation and solve for x:

8x + 8(54 - 4x) = 240

8x + 432 - 32x = 240

-24x = -192

x = 8

Now that we know x = 8, we can use the equation for y to solve for y:

y = 54 - 4x = 54 - 4(8) = 22

Therefore, there were 8 students in each van and 22 students in each bus.