Answer: The cost of renting a chair is $2.5 while the cost of renting a table is $6
Step-by-step explanation: Let the cost chair rental be called h, while the cost of table rental shall be called t. To rent two chairs and five tables cost $35, so we can express this as
2h + 5t = 35
Also to rent eight chairs and three tables cost $38, and this too can be expressed as
8h + 3t = 38
We now have a pair of simultaneous equations as follows
2h + 5t = 35 ———(1)
8h + 3t = 38 ———(2)
We shall use the elimination method since all the unknown variables have coefficients greater than 1.
Multiply equation (1) by 8 and multiply equation (2) by 2. We now have
16h + 40t = 280 ———(3)
16h + 6t = 76 ———(4)
Subtract equation (4) from (3)
34t = 204
Divide both sides of the equation by 34
t = 6
Having calculated that, substitute for the value of t into equation (1)
2h + 5(6) = 35
2h + 30 = 35
Subtract 30 from both sides of the equation 2h = 5
Divide both sides of the equation by 2
h = 5/2 or (2.5)
Therefore the cost of rental for each chair (h) is $2.5 and the cost of rental for each table (t) is $6
