Question

Chris and Mary are selling tickets at their class play. Chris is selling student tickets for $4.00 each, and Mary selling adult tickets for $6.50 each. If their total income for 21 tickets was $124.00, how many tickets did Chris and Mary sell individually?

Answer 1

Chris sells 5 tickets and Mary sells 16 tickets

Explanation:

System of Equations

To solve the problem we call:

x = number of tickets sold by Chris

y = number of tickets sold by Mary

They sold a total of 21 tickets, thus:

x + y = 21 [1]

Mary sold adult tickets for $6.50 each and Chris sold student tickets for $4.00 each. The total income was:

4x + 6.5y = 124 [2]

Multiplying [1] by -4:

-4x - 4y = -84 [3]

Adding [2] and [3]:

2.5y = 40

Dividing by 2.5:

y = 40/2.5

y = 16

From [1]

x = 21 - 16 = 5

x = 5

Chris sells 5 tickets and Mary sells 16 tickets