William spent $384 to buy some T-shirts and shorts. The cost of a pair of shorts was $12 and a T-shirt cost $3 more than the shorts. If the number of shorts he bought was 3/4 as many as the number of T-shirts, how much did he spend on the T-shirts?

Answer 1

Let's call the number of pairs of shorts William bought "s" and the number of T-shirts he bought "t".

We know that the cost of a pair of shorts is $12, so William spent 12s dollars on shorts.

We also know that the cost of a T-shirt is $3 more than the cost of a pair of shorts. So the cost of a T-shirt is $12 + $3 = $15. Therefore, William spent 15t dollars on T-shirts.

We're told that he bought 3/4 as many shorts as T-shirts, or s = (3/4)t.

We can use this information to set up an equation:

12s + 15t = 384

Substitute s = (3/4)t:

12(3/4)t + 15t = 384

9t + 15t = 384

24t = 384

t = 16

So William bought 16 T-shirts. We can use this to find the number of shorts he bought:

s = (3/4)t = (3/4)(16) = 12

William bought 12 pairs of shorts.

Now we can find how much he spent on T-shirts:

15t = 15(16) = $240

Therefore, William spent $240 on T-shirts.