Solving a Math Puzzle: The Total Cost of Textbooks and Storybooks

Math puzzles can be both fun and challenging, serving as a great way to test and improve our problem-solving skills. Today, we'll explore a puzzle that involves a simple yet interesting situation: the total cost of a certain number of textbooks and storybooks. Let's dive in and solve it step by step!

The Puzzle

Suppose you have 12 textbooks and 7 storybooks, and the total cost of these books is $193. If the total cost for just one textbook and one storybook is $19, can you figure out the cost of one storybook?

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this puzzle, let's use algebra to set up and solve the problem. We'll denote the cost of a storybook with s and the cost of a textbook with t.

Step 1

From the puzzle, we have two key pieces of information that can be translated into equations:

The total cost of 7 storybooks and 12 textbooks is $193:

7s 12t 193 .....(i)

The total cost for one textbook and one storybook is $19:

s t 19 .....(ii)

Step 2

To simplify our equations, let's multiply equation (ii) by 7:

7s 7t 133 nd...