Question

There are 9 more pencils then pens in a container. There are 25 writing utensils in the container in all. How many pens are there in the container?

Answer 1

In order to determine the number of pens present in the container, we need to set up equations from the given in the problem statement. We do as follows:

let x the number of pencils
    y the number of pens

From the statement, 9 more pencils then pens in a container,

x = y + 9

From the statement, there are 25 writing utensils in the container in all,

x + y = 25

We use substitution method to calculate for x and y,

y + 9 + y = 25
2y = 16
y = 8
x = 17

Therefore, there are 8 pens in the container and 17 pencils.