Question

Mr. Smith has 17 18-cent notebooks and 7-cent pencils. The notebooks and pencils are worth $1.85. How many notebooks and how many pencils does Mr. Smith have?

I would like to see how this is solved, not just the answer, that way I can learn how to do it.

Answer 1

17=N+P
.18N+.07P=1.85

in the first equation solve for N
N=17-P
Put that into the second equation.
.18(17-P)+.07P=1.85
then solve for P. Once you have that,
N=17-P

Answer 2

Thank you so much for explaining.