Question 948009
I was working on this, and have an idea of how to figure it out, but don't really understand it that well. If you could please explain how to figure this word problem out, that would be amazing!! Thank you so much!

A family has two cars. The first car has a fuel efficiency of 35 miles per gallon of gas and the second has a fuel efficiency of 40 miles per gallon of gas. During one particular week, the two cars went a combined total of 1850 miles, for a total gas consumption of 50 gallons. How many gallons were consumed by each of the two cars that week?
<pre><font face = "Tohoma" size = 4 color = "indigo"><b>Let less efficient car’s (35 mpg) gas consumption, be L, and more efficient car’s (40 mpg) gas consumption, M
Then 35L + 40M = 1,850_________5(7L + 8M) = 5(370)________7L + 8M = 370 ------- eq (i)
Also, L + M = 50_____M = 50 – L – – – – – – – – eq (ii)
7L + 8(50 – L) = 370 -------- Substituting 50 – L for M in eq (i)
7L + 400 – 8L = 370
7L – 8L = 370 – 400 
– L = – 30
L, or less efficient car’s gas consumption = {{{(- 30)/(- 1)}}}, or {{{highlight_green(30)}}} gallons

M = 50 – 30 ---------- Substituting 30 for L in eq (ii)
M, or more efficient car’s gas consumption = {{{highlight_green(20)}}} gallons       
You can do the check!! 
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