Question

A textbook store sold a combined total of 473 chemistry and sociology textbooks in a week. The number of sociology textbooks sold was 59 less than the number of chemistry textbooks sold. How many textbooks of each type were sold?

Answer 1

I. C = 266 textbooks.

II. S = 207 textbooks.

Explanation:

Let the chemistry textbook be C.

Let the sociology textbook be S.

Translating the word problem into an algebraic expression, we have;

C + S = 473 ..... equation 1

S = C - 59 ..... equation 2

Substituting eqn 2 into eqn 1, we have;

C + C - 59 = 473

2C - 59 = 473

2C = 473 + 59

2C = 532

C = 532/2

C = 266 textbooks.

Next, we would determine the value of S;

S = C - 59

S = 266 - 59

S = 207 textbooks.

Check:

C + S = 473

266 + 207 = 473

473 = 473