How do you solve this?

By using the subsitution/elimination method...



A florist will make up bouquets of different flowers. The rates and bouquets are listed below. If the flowers cost the same individually or in a bouquet, how much does one orchid cost?



Small bouquet:

2 snapdragons, 1 rose, 1 orchid $8

Medium bouquet:

5 snapdragons, 3 roses, 2 orchids $19

Large bouquet:

8 snapdragons, 5 roses, 5 orchids $38



Ah, I'd really appreciate the clarification! It's a study question of mine and I'm a bit confused..
How do you solve this?
If we let s = snapdragons, r = roses and o = orchids, then:

Small bouquet: 2s + r + o = 8

Medium bouquet: 5s + 3r + 2o = 19

Large bouquet: 8s + 5r + 5o = 38

From 1)

o = 8 - r - 2s

Substituting into 3)

8s + 5r + 5(8-r-2s) = 38

8s + 5r + 40 - 5r - 10s = 38

-2s = -2

s = 1

We can now solve the first two simultaneously.

2 + r + o = 8

r + o = 6

o = 6 - r

5 + 3r + 2o = 19

3r + 2(6-r) = 14

3r + 12 - 2r = 14

r = 2

Finally, this lets us solve for o:

o = 6 - r

= 4



So, the snapdragons cost $1 each, the roses $2 each, and the orchids $4 each.



You have to be careful picking your substitutions - the only reason this substitution cancelled so well was because I saw that the ratio of roses:orchids in the final question was 1:1, and I knew that by making o the subject of the first equation, I would cancel out the roses in the final equation. It's a skill you learn by practice...



You will learn about matrices some day, which makes these sort of questions a lot easier.
Reply:i have problem with that kind of question too

but i don`t know how to solve it so sorry