Me and mom have been trying to solve this for hours. We need help. Can some one show us how to solve it. We do have a hint from the site we got the problem from. I will put it in the comments.

Question

Ruth is knitting hats at a local fair. The booth cost 135 and the materials to make each hat cost 13. She plans on selling them for 18.

How many hats does she have to make to break even, and how much will sales and costs be at that point?

Answer 1

Hint: We need to come up with 2 linear equations based on the situation. Let x = hats and y = dollars. One of the equations will be y = 13x + 135. Determine the other equation, then solve for x and y using substitution.

Answer 2

By the way., we have 2 answer boxes for the question. One for the number of hats and another of the number of dollars. I also know how to do the substitution its just the other part that confuses me.

Answer 3

Let the number of hats be x
So the cost = 13x + 135 , which is the cost of the booth plus making the hats
income = 18x

so you want your income to be equal to the expenses
18x = 13x +135
5x = 135
x = 27

So making 27 hats would be the break-even point

check:
expenses = 27(13) + 135 = 486
income = 27(18) = 486
less than 27 hats would give you more expenses than income
more than 27 hats would give you a profit

so there you have it!

Your definition of "y = dollars" is rather meaningless. What dollars?

Answer 4

I don't know that's just the hint that was given.