if x is how much your friend collected, then how much you collected would be x + 22 because you collected 22 more then her. and if you add both of those together to get how much you collected together (the total) you get 88. so x (your friends sea shells) plus x+22 (your sea shells) is 88. tell me if you also need help solving the actual equation
you have x+22 + x = 88
you combine like terms, in this case the Xs
and you get 2x + 22 = 88
then you subtract 22 to both sides because you want to get x alone
Equations: x+y=88 and y=x+22. (where x=your friend’s seashells and y=your seashells). This is your equation because you are told that you collect 22 MORE than your friend so you have to add 22 to the amount your friend collects to get how many you collected. We also know there are 88 in total between you and your friend so the x+y represents that. To solve you can input x+22 for y into the first equation to get that x+x+22=88. Next you simplify and solve to find that x=33(this tells you that your friend collected 33 shells). Next you plug in the 33 for x into either equation and solve. The second one would be easier so we could do 33+22=y. We then know y=55 and this is how many shells you collected. Hope this helps and explains how you do it well :)
