SOLUTION: A Chinese problem states that several people combined their money to buy a farm tool to share. If each person paid 8 coins, they had 3 too many. If each person paid 7 coins, there

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Question 1015349: A Chinese problem states that several people combined their money to buy a farm tool to share. If each person paid 8 coins, they had 3 too many. If each person paid 7 coins, there were 4 coins too short. How many people were there, and what was the price of the farm tool?
Answer by macston(5194) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
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y=cost of tool; x=number of people
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y=8x-3
y=7x+4
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8x-3=7x+4
x-3=4
x=7
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ANSWER 1: There were 7 people.
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y = 8x-3 = 8(7)-3 = 56-3 = 53
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ANSWER 2: The tool cost 53 coins.
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CHECK:
y=7x+4
53=7(7)+4
53=49+4
53=53
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