Alexis found 2 times as many shells as tina. tina found 5 more shells than phillip. together alexis and phillip found 16 shells. how many did each person find?

Step-by-step explanation:

The problem statement gives rise to three equations in three unknowns. Let a, t, p represent the numbers of shells found by Alexis, Tina, and Phillip, respectively. Then the equations are ...

... a = 2t . . . . . . . Alexis found 2 times as many as Tina

... t = 5 +p . . . . . Tina found 5 more than Phillip

... a + p = 16 . . . . Alexis and Phillip together found 16 shells

These equations can be solved a variety of ways. For example, we can use substitution to get two equations in t and p.

... t - p = 5 . . . . . rearrange the second equation

... 2t +p = 16 . . . substitute for a in the third equation

Adding these gives ...

... 3t = 21

... t = 7

Then

... a = 2t = 2·7 = 14

... p = 16 - a = 16 - 14 = 2

Alexis found 14 shells, Tina found 7 shells, Phillip found 2 shells.

practice. practice. practice.