How do you use substitution to solve the system of equations y=7x+8 and y=x+20?

1 Answer
Jun 4, 2017

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

Step 1) Because the first equation is already solved for y we can substitute (7x + 8) for y in the second equation and solve for x:

y = x + 20 becomes:

7x + 8 = x + 20

-color(blue)(x) + 7x + 8 - color(red)(8) = -color(blue)(x) + x + 20 - color(red)(8)

-color(blue)(1x) + 7x + 0 = 0 + 12

(-color(blue)(1) + 7)x = 12

6x = 12

(6x)/color(red)(6) = 12/color(red)(6)

(color(red)(cancel(color(black)(6)))x)/cancel(color(red)(6)) = 2

x = 2

Step 2) Substitute 2 for x in the first equation and calculate y:

y = 7x + 8 becomes:

y = (7 xx 2) + 8

y = 14 + 8

y = 22

The solution is: x = 2 and y = 22 or (2, 22)