There are 77 students who take either Spanish or French. There are 15 more students who take Spanish than who take French. Which system of equations represents the situation?
a. s+f=77
s=f+15
b. s+f=77
15s=f
c. s+f=77
sf=15
d. s+f=15
s=f+77
The answer is "a". Can you solve them?
Here is another way of doing with just ONE variable:
Let the number of students who take french=F, then
F + 15=number of students who take Spanish. But we have:
F + (F + 15)=77 isolate F to one side
2F=77-15=62 divide both sides by 2
F=62/2=31 number of students who take French, therefore,
31 + 15=46 number of students who take Spanish.
