Question

Troy and Lisa were shopping for school supplies. Each purchased different quantities of the same notebook and thumb drive. Troy bought four notebooks and five thumb drives for $158. Lisa bought two notebooks and three thumb dives for $94. Find the cost, in dollars, of each notebook and each thumb drive.

Answer 1

Explanation:

Let's call the cost of a notebook "x" and the cost of a thumb drive "y".

From the information given, we can set up the following system of equations:

4x + 5y = 158 (Troy's purchase)

2x + 3y = 94 (Lisa's purchase)

We can solve this system of equations using substitution or elimination. Here, we will use elimination:

Multiplying the second equation by 2, we get:

4x + 6y = 188

Subtracting this equation from the first equation, we get:

4x + 5y - (4x + 6y) = 158 - 188

Simplifying, we get:

-y = -30

Solving for y, we get:

y = 30

Substituting this value back into the second equation, we get:

2x + 3(30) = 94

Simplifying, we get:

2x + 90 = 94

Subtracting 90 from both sides, we get:

2x = 4

Solving for x, we get:

x = 2

Therefore, a notebook costs $2 and a thumb drive costs $30.