You are in the market for a house. The sales rep informs you that there are 56 houses available with 2 floor plans. Let x represent floor plan #1, and y represent foor plan #2. Write an equation that illustrates the situation.

I beleve you meant to say that x is the NUMBER of houses with plan #1 and y is the number of houses with plan #2.

In that case,
x + y = 56
represents the situation.