56 books were put on 2 shelves w/ 1 shelf having eight less books than the other shelf. How many books were on each shelf?

(56 - 8) / 2 = ?

To find out how many books were on each shelf, let's set up an equation. Let's call the number of books on one shelf x, and the number of books on the other shelf (which is eight less) y.

According to the problem, there were a total of 56 books. So, we can write the equation:

x + y = 56

We also know that one shelf had eight less books than the other, so we can write another equation:

x = y + 8

Now, we can solve these two equations simultaneously to find the values of x and y.

Let's substitute the value of x from the second equation into the first equation:

y + 8 + y = 56

Combining like terms:

2y + 8 = 56

Subtracting 8 from both sides:

2y = 48

Dividing both sides by 2:

y = 24

Now, substitute the value of y back into one of the equations to find x:

x = y + 8

x = 24 + 8

x = 32

Therefore, there were 32 books on one shelf and 24 books on the other shelf.