To solve a word problem using a system of equations, it is important to;
– Identify what we don’t know
– Declare variables
– Use sentences to create equations
An example on how to do this:
Mary and Jose each bought plants from the same store. Mary spent $188 on 7 cherry trees and 11 rose bushes. Jose spent $236 on 13 cherry trees and 11 rose bushes. Find the cost of one cherry tree and the cost of one rose bush.
Cost of a cherry tree:
Cost of a rose bush:
7 cherry trees and 11 rose bushes = $188
The y-values cancel each other out, so now you are left with only x-values and real numbers.
Then, you plug in your x-value into an original equation in order to find the y-value.
Cost of a cherry tree: $8
Cost of a rose bush: $12
Video-Lesson Transcript
To solve a word problem using system of equations, it is important to:
1. Identify what we don’t know
2. Declare variables.
3. Use sentences to create equations.
Let’s have an example:
Mary and Jose each bought plants from the same store. Mary spent 
Let’s solve this by following steps above.
1. What we don’t know:
cost of a cherry tree
cost of a rose bush
2. Declare variables:
cost of a cherry tree :
cost of a rose bush :
3. Use sentences to create equations.
For Mary:
For Jose:
Now, we have a system of equations
We can solve this by process of substitution, elimination or fraction.
Since the value of 
First, let’s multiply the first equation by
Here we’ll have a negated equation
Let’s do the process of elimination now
We’ll have
Then, let’s isolate 
Now, we have
Remember, our declared variable?
cost of a cherry tree :
Since
Now we can say that
cost of a cherry tree :
Now, let’s solve for the value of
Let’s use the first equation to plug in
Let’s isolate 
Then divide by
And we get
Now, we know that cost of a rose bush is 
