Remember, the idea is to have the SAME variable missing in two equations, not just to eliminate any variable you can. You should start either of the following two ways, but not the way you started. 1. Take advantage of the fact that y is already missing in the 1st equation. To do so, use the other two equations, 2nd and 3rd, to get another equation with y missing. Then solve that with the 1st. or 2. Take advantage of the fact that x is already missing in the 2nd equation. To do so, use the other two equations, 1st and 3rd, to get another equation with x missing. Then solve that with the 2nd. I'll arbitrarily choose the first way. Since y is already eliminated in the first equation,let's put it aside for now, and use only the other two equations to eliminate y, the same variable that is missing in the first. We'll write as Remember we want to eliminate y, so we multiply the upper equation through by and add it to the lower equation: We add term by term and get Now we go back and get the very first original equation which we put aside, We put it together with the one we just found and now we have a system of two equations with the SAME missing variable, y. Now we eliminate by multiplying the upper equation through by -2, and adding: and get Substitute this into Now substitute these values in either one of the original equations which contains . The simpler one is So the solution is , , Edwin