A total of 579 tickets were sold for the school play. They were either adult tickets or student tickets. There were 71 fewer student tickets sold than adult tickets. How many adult tickets were sold?
Let A be the number of adult tickets sold.
Then the number of student tickets sold is A - 71.
The total number of tickets sold is A + (A - 71) = 579.
Combining like terms, we get 2A - 71 = 579.
Adding 71 to both sides, we get 2A = 650.
Dividing both sides by 2, we get A = 325. Answer: \boxed{325}.