Sarah took the advertising department from her company on a round-trip to meet with a potential client. Including Sarah, a total of 12 people took this trip. She was able to purchase coach tickets for $300 and first class tickets for $940. She used her total budget for airfare for the trip, which was $6800. How many first class tickets did she buy? How many coach tickets did she buy?

I am very confused and need some help please.

4 answers

Let F = # first class passengers and
let C = # coach class passengers.
F + C = 12
940F + 300C = 6800
Solve these two equations simultaneously for F and C.
Post your work if you get stuck.
So I just find a number for both F and C and make sure that it doesn’t go over 6800 and there is enough tickets for 12 people?
No, you don't guess; you solve the two equations simultaneously.
F + C = 12
940F + 300C = 6800
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Solve the first equation for C. That will be
C = 12-F and substitute this for C in equation 2 like this
940F + 300(12-F) = 6800. Now you have an equation that has just one unknown (that's F), solve for that like this.
940F + 3600 - 300F = 6800
940F-300F = 6800-3600
640F = 3200
F = 3200/640 = 5 first class tickets. Now plug that number for F back into equation 1 and solve for C. That gives you #F and #C tickets.
Then check it to see that 5*940 + C*300 = 6800. If that checks you know you solved the two equations correctly.
Ohhhhh thank you so much!!!