Question

Cole went to the store and bought pants and shirts. He bought a total of 12 items and paid $234. If Pants cost $22 and Shirts cost $16, how many of each did he buy?

Select two equations that could be used to determine the number of pants (p) and shirts (s) Cole purchased

Answer 1

Cole bought 7 pants and 9 shirts.

Explanation:

Let p represent the number of pants and s represent the number of shirts.

Then using the provided data two equations can be formed.

p + s = 12...(i)

22p + 16s = 234...(ii)

Solve (i) and (ii) simultaneously.

Multiply (i) by 16 and subtract the resultant equation from (ii) as follows:

16p + 16s = 192

-22p - 16s = -234

-6p = -42

p = 7

Substitute p = 7 in (i) and solve for s as follows:

p + s = 16

7 + s = 16

s = 9

Thus, Cole bought 7 pants and 9 shirts.