Give two equations that would be easier to solve by substitution than by elimination

Question

asked Mar 25, 2019 214k views

1 Answer

LanceP · Answer 1 · 2019-03-30T05:40:52+0000

An example is:

$y=3x-12\\8x+4y=52$

The reasons why this is easier to use substitution vs elimination is:

You don't need to take the time to isolate x or y since one of the equations has already isolated y.
The two equations aren't in the same order with each other. The first equation is in the order of y term = x term + constant while the second equation is in the order of x term + y term = constant. If you were using the elimination method, you would need to rearrange the equations so that the like terms lined up with each other, which is a hassle compared to using the substitution method.