According to the given information, 487 students listed the Cincinnati Reds as their favorite team. This represents 17 fewer students than three times the number of students who listed the Columbus Crew.
We can write the equation: 3x - 17 = 487
To solve for x, we can add 17 to both sides of the equation:
3x - 17 + 17 = 487 + 17
3x = 504
Finally, we divide both sides of the equation by 3 to solve for x:
3x/3 = 504/3
x = 168
Therefore, 168 students listed the Columbus Crew as their favorite team