Solving Word Problems: Substitution & Elimination Skills

A farmer has chickens and cows. If the total number of animals is 30 and the total number of legs is 100, how many chickens and cows does the farmer have? Use substitution to solve.

• 20 chickens and 10 cows

• 15 chickens and 15 cows

• 10 chickens and 20 cows

• 5 chickens and 25 cows

In a school, the number of boys is twice the number of girls. If there are 60 students in total, how many boys and girls are there? Use elimination to find the solution.

• 40 boys and 20 girls

• 30 boys and 30 girls

• 20 boys and 40 girls

• 50 boys and 10 girls

A store sells pencils for $0.50 each and erasers for $0.75 each. If a student buys a total of 20 items and spends $12.50, how many pencils and erasers did the student buy? Use substitution to solve.

• 10 pencils and 10 erasers

• 15 pencils and 5 erasers

• 12 pencils and 8 erasers

• 5 pencils and 15 erasers

Two friends, Alex and Jamie, are collecting stickers. Alex has 5 more stickers than Jamie, and together they have 45 stickers. How many stickers does each friend have? Use elimination to find the answer.

• Alex has 25 stickers and Jamie has 20 stickers.

• Alex has 20 stickers and Jamie has 25 stickers.

• Alex has 10 stickers and Jamie has 35 stickers.

• Alex has 30 stickers and Jamie has 15 stickers.

A car rental company charges a flat fee of $20 plus $0.15 per mile driven. If a customer pays $50, how many miles did they drive? Use substitution to determine the miles driven.

• 150 miles

• 200 miles

• 250 miles

• 100 miles

In a class, the ratio of boys to girls is 3:2. If there are 25 students in total, how many boys and girls are in the class? Use elimination to solve the problem.

• 15 boys and 10 girls

• 12 boys and 13 girls

• 20 boys and 5 girls

• 10 boys and 15 girls

A recipe requires 2 cups of flour and 3 cups of sugar. If you want to make a batch that uses 12 cups of flour, how much sugar will you need? Use substitution to find the amount of sugar needed.

• 12 cups of sugar

• 21 cups of sugar

• 15 cups of sugar

• 18 cups of sugar

A concert hall has two types of tickets: regular tickets for $30 and VIP tickets for $50. If 200 tickets were sold for a total of $8,000, how many of each type of ticket were sold? Use elimination to solve this problem.

• 100 regular tickets and 100 VIP tickets

• 50 regular tickets and 150 VIP tickets

• 200 regular tickets and 0 VIP tickets

• 150 regular tickets and 50 VIP tickets

A bookstore sells novels for $10 each and magazines for $5 each. If a customer buys a total of 15 items and spends $100, how many novels and magazines did they buy? Use substitution to find the answer.

• 5 novels and 10 magazines

• 7 novels and 8 magazines

• 3 novels and 12 magazines

• 10 novels and 5 magazines

In a fruit basket, there are apples and oranges. If there are 40 fruits in total and the number of apples is 5 more than twice the number of oranges, how many apples and oranges are in the basket? Use elimination to solve the problem.

• 20 apples and 20 oranges

• 15 apples and 25 oranges

• 27 apples and 13 oranges

• 30 apples and 10 oranges