Question 107297
You can start by assigning variables to the unknown quantities.
Let R = the number of tickets written by officer Reid and S = the number of tickets written by officer Smith.
From the problem description, you can write:
1) R = S+9 "Officer Reid wrote up 9 more tickests than officer Smith did."
2) R+S = 35 "Together, they wrote up 35 tickets."
Now substitute the R = S+9 from equation 1) into equation 2) and solve for S.
2a) (S+9)+S = 35 Simplify.
2S+9 = 35 Subtract 9 from both sides.
2S = 26 Divide both sides by 2.
S = 13  Officer Smith wrote 13 tickets.
R = S+9
R = 13+9
R = 22 Officer Reid wrote 22 tickets.