Question

Gina bought 4 photo albums and 16 pens for $72. A photo album costs 5 times as much as a pen. Find the cost of a pen

Answer 1

$2

Explanation:

Represent the cost of a single photo album by a and the cost of a single pen by p. Then:

4a + 16p = $72, and a = 5p. Substituting 5p for a in 4a + 16p = $72, we get:

4(5p) + 16p = $72, or 16p = 36p = $72. Thus, p = $2.

A pen costs $2.

Answer 2

A pen is $2. Using substitution, this is how you solve the system of equations

Let a represent the cost of a photo album and let p represent the cost of a pen.