Question

There were twelve times more children than adults at the matinee performance of the school play. There were 455 people at the play. How many adults and children were there?

Answer 1

35 adults, 420 children

Explanation:

1. Set up variables

Let's say children is c and adults is a.

2. Create the equations

c = 12a AND c + a = 455

3. Plug in the variables

Let's take c = 12a and substitute it in for c in the equation "c + a = 455." That would be...

12a + a = 455

13a = 455

a = 35

3. Plug in more variables

Now we have our answer for a, so let's plug it into the other equation. That would be...

c + a = 455

c + 35 = 455

c = 420