kylie answered my question but did not go into detail how to solve the problem. Here's the problem I need help with. Given two numbers whose sum is 56. Six times the larger is 72 more than 5 times the smaller. Find the numbers. I need to know step by step how to solve this problem. My test is on Monday and there will be similar problems. Thanks.
just take the facts and put them into symbols. You have two numbers, x and y.
x+y = 56
If x is larger,
6x = 5y+72
So, since y = 56-x,
6x = 5(56-x) + 72
6x = 280 - 5x + 72
11x = 352
x = 32
so, y = 56-x = 24