Question

Students in a poetry class are writing poems for their portfolios. The teacher wants them to write stanzas with certain numbers of lines each. Lucy wrote 9 short stanzas and 9 long stanzas, for a total of 198 lines. Quincy wrote 9 short stanzas and 6 long stanzas, for a total of 156 lines. How many lines do the two sizes of stanzas contain?

Answer 1

x = 8

y = 14

the short stanzas contain 8 lines

the long stanzas contain 14 lines

Explanation:

lets call the short stanzas x

and the long stanzas y

using given information, you can make this equation

9x + 9y = 198

you can also make this equation

9x + 6y = 156

simplify the first equation

9x + 9y = 198

9x = 198 - 9y

x = 198/9 - y

x = 22 - y

substitute x for 22 - y in the second equation to find y

9(22 - y) + 6y = 156

198 - 9y + 6y = 156

-9y + 6y = -42

-3y = -42

y = 14

substitute y for 14 in the first equation to find x

9x + 9y = 198

9x + 9*14 = 198

9x + 126 = 198

9x = 198-126

9x = 72

x = 72/9

x = 8