Question

A publisher needs to send many books to a local book retailer and will send the books in a combination of small and large boxes. Each small box can hold 25 books and each large box can hold 50 books. There were 3 more large boxes sent than small boxes, which altogether can hold 450 books. Determine the number of small boxes sent and the number of large boxes sent.

There were ____ small boxes sent and ____ large boxes sent.

Answer 1

there were 4 small boxes sent and 7 large boxes sent

Explanation:

let s= number of small boxes

let y= number of small boxes

each small box can hold 25 books, so s small boxes can hold 25s books. Each large box can hold 50 books, so l large boxes can hold 50lbooks. Therefore, the total number of books 25s+50l equals 450.

Since there were 3 more large boxes sent than small boxes, if we add 3 to the number of small boxes, we will get the number of large boxes, meaning l equals s+3.

system of equations:

25s+50l=450

l=s+3

substitute values