last month mayfield paper comapny sold 58 more than 3 times as many reams of paper a superior comapany if the two companies sold a total of 870 reams of paper how many reams of paper did mayfield paper company sell
superior ---- x
mayfield ---- 3x + 58
solve for x :
x + 3x+58=870
i understand how u got the 3x but not sure of the 1x
To find out how many reams of paper Mayfield Paper Company sold, we need to first set up an equation based on the given information.
Let's represent the number of reams of paper that Mayfield Paper Company sold as "x."
According to the problem, Mayfield Paper Company sold 58 more than 3 times as many reams of paper as Superior Company. So, we can express this as:
x = 3y + 58
Where "y" represents the number of reams of paper sold by Superior Company.
It is also mentioned that the two companies sold a total of 870 reams of paper. So, we can set up another equation:
x + y = 870
Now, we have a system of two equations with two variables. We can solve it using various methods, such as substitution or elimination.
Let's use the substitution method here:
From the first equation, we can express "y" in terms of "x":
3y = x - 58
y = (x - 58) / 3
Substitute this expression for "y" in the second equation:
x + (x - 58) / 3 = 870
Now, we can solve this equation for "x":
Multiply through by 3 to eliminate the fraction:
3x + x - 58 = 870 * 3
4x - 58 = 2610
Add 58 to both sides:
4x = 2610 + 58
4x = 2668
Divide both sides by 4:
x = 2668 / 4
x = 667
Therefore, Mayfield Paper Company sold 667 reams of paper.