Question

Elliot has a total of 26 books. He has 12 more fiction books than nonfiction books. Let x represent the number of fiction books and y represent the number of nonfiction books. This system of equations models the number of books. x + y = 26 x – y = 12 Elliot added the two equations and the result was 2x = 38. Solve the equation. How many fiction books does Elliot have? 15 ⇒ 19 fiction books How many nonfiction books does Elliot have?

Answer 1

Luckily for us, this problem solved the bulk of its own question!

Now, all we have to do is solve for "x", or the amount of fiction books and plug its value back into the original equation to find the value of "y", or the amount of nonfiction books.

2x = 38

x = 19

There are 19 fiction books.

x + y = 26

19 + y = 26

y = 7

There are 7 nonfiction books.

Hope this helps!