Question

A total of 394 tickets were sold for the school play. They were either adult tickets or student tickets. There were 56fewer student tickets sold than adult tickets. How many adult tickets were sold?

Answer 1

Let s be the number of student tickets.
Let a be the number of adult tickets.

s + a = 394
s = a - 56

Substitute a-56 in equation 1.

a - 56 + a = 394

2a - 56 = 394

2a = 450

a = 225 tickets

Answer 2

So you can do this by using a system of equations
x=student tickets
y=adult tickets

x+y=394
x+56=y
then you substitute y in
x+(x+56)=394
2x+56=394
2x=394-56
2x=338
x=169 which is the number of student tickets
then you find the amount of adult tickets
x+56=y
169+56=y
225=y
and now you can check it
225+169=394
394=394

Answer:
169 student tickets were sold
225 adult tickets were sold