Problem:
A school store sells  pencils and  notebooks for . It also sells  pencils and  notebooks for . How much do  pencils and  notebooks cost?
Answer Choices:
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
Solution:
Let be the cost in cents of a pencil and be the cost in cents of a notebook. Then
The solution of this pair of equations is and . So the cost of pencils and notebooks is cents, or .
The problems on this page are the property of the MAA's American Mathematics Competitions