Question

How tall is each person?

"Shauna is 10 inches shorter than Ryan. Together, their heights total 11 feet 8 inches or 140 inches.
Let x represent: Ryan
Let y represent: Shauna
Write the system of equations, solve, and check."

Answer 1

By translating the information into a system of equations and solving for x (Ryan's height) and y (Shauna's height), we find that Ryan is 75 inches tall and Shauna is 65 inches tall, which checks out with the given combined total of 140 inches.

Step-by-step explanation:

System of Equations Problem

To solve the problem, we need to translate the given information into a system of equations and solve for Ryan's height (x) and Shauna's height (y). From the information given, we can establish two equations:

1. Shauna is 10 inches shorter than Ryan: y = x - 10
2. Their combined heights total 140 inches: x + y = 140

Now we can solve the system:

1. Substitute the first equation into the second one: x + (x - 10) = 140
2. Simplify and solve for x: 2x - 10 = 140, so x = 75 inches (Ryan's height)
3. Substitute x back into the first equation to find y: y = 75 - 10, so y = 65 inches (Shauna's height)

To check our solution, we add the heights: 75 inches + 65 inches = 140 inches, which matches the given total height.