Question

пеу Fabric Sale At a fabric store, fabrics are sold by the yard. A dressmaker spent $46 on 5 yards of silk and cotton fabrics for a dress. 1 x + y = 5 117x + 4y = 46) Silk is $17 per yard and cotton is $4 per yard. Here is a system of equations that represent the constraints in the situation. What does the solution to the system represent?

Answer 1

It is said that the dressmaker bought 5 yards of cotton and silk. Let's see the first equation of the system:

`x+y=5`

And that he spent $46 on those 5 yards. Also, it is said that silk costs $17 per yard and cotton $4 per yard. Let's see the second equation of the system:

`17x+4y=46`

If 46 is how much the dressmaker spent, and 17 and 4 represent how much silk and cotton cost PER YARD then we know that x and y represent how much of each fabric did the dressmaker bought. Also, in the first equation you see that the total is 5 yards. So, if you solve this system you will find that 'x' is how many yards of silk the dressmaker bought and 'y' is how many yards of cotton he bought.

In summary, the solution of this system represents how may yards of silk (x) and cotton (y) the dressmaker bought.