<PRE><B>Question 1129909</B>
&lt;br&gt;
Let last year&#39;s prices be B, J, and T.  The sum of the prices last year was $140,000:&lt;br&gt;
(1) {{{B + J + T = 140000}}}&lt;br&gt;
The BMW increased in price by 9%, the Jeep by 5%, and the Toyota by 11%.  The sum of the prices this year is $151,830:&lt;br&gt;
(2) {{{1.09B + 1.05J + 1.11T = 151380}}}&lt;br&gt;
The price of last year&#39;s Jeep was $7000 less than the price of last year&#39;s BMW:&lt;br&gt;
(3) {{{J = B-7000}}}&lt;br&gt;
With the ugly decimal coefficients, I would definitely use matrices on a graphing calculator to solve the problem.  The first two equations are in the required form for most graphing calculators; the third equation needs to be put in that form.  The matrix would be&lt;br&gt;
{{{matrix(3,4,1,1,1,1400000,1.09,1.05,1.11,151830,1,-1,0,7000)}}}&lt;br&gt;
You can do the calculations....&lt;br&gt;
Note the answers are nice whole numbers....</PRE>