Question

darryl organized his old school supplies into pencil boxes. he put y erasers in each pencil box. he put 5 pencils in each box. after filling 6 pencil boxes, he had used a total of 54 items. what is the value of y? (there is a chart showing 6 boxes each labeled y + 5, and the total is 54.)

Explanation:

Step1: Set up total items equation

Each box has $y+5$ items, 6 boxes sum to 54:
$$6(y+5) = 54$$

Step2: Divide both sides by 6

Isolate the parenthetical term:
$$y+5 = \frac{54}{6}$$
$$y+5 = 9$$

Step3: Solve for y

Subtract 5 from both sides:
$$y = 9 - 5$$

Answer:

$y=4$