Let's make p stand for popcorn and d for drinks. Using those variables, we can create our equations: 2p + 3d = 18.25 4p + 2d = 27.50
From this, we can use substitution or elimination to solve: For substitution, in the second equations, we could factor out a 2, divide both sides by 2, and then move the left over 2p to the other side to isolate d to put into the first equation. For elimination, we can multiply the first equation by -2 so that we can remove the 4p and focus on solving for d.
I'll be using elimination in this case: -2(2p + 3d = 18.25) --> -4p - 6d = -36.50