Answer:
Let's suppose that Mr. Lee puts "x" apples into each box.
According to the first statement, when he puts an equal number of apples into 8 boxes, he has one apple left. This can be represented by the equation:
8x + 1 = n, where n is the total number of apples Mr. Lee has.
Similarly, the second statement says that when he puts the same number of apples into 5 boxes, he has 7 apples left. This can be represented by the equation:
5x + 7 = n
Now we have two equations with two unknowns (x and n). We can solve for x by setting the two equations equal to each other:
8x + 1 = 5x + 7
Subtracting 5x from both sides, we get:
3x + 1 = 7
Subtracting 1 from both sides, we get:
3x = 6
Dividing both sides by 3, we get:
x = 2
So Mr. Lee puts 2 apples into each box. To find the total number of apples he has, we can substitute x = 2 into either of the two equations we started with:
8x + 1 = 8(2) + 1 = 17
So Mr. Lee has 17 apples