A paper company needs to ship paper to a large printing business. The paper will be shipped in small boxes and large boxes. Each small box of paper weighs 35 pounds and each large box of paper weighs 65 pounds. There were 3 times as many small boxes shipped as large boxes shipped and the total weight of all boxes was 850 pounds.

There were 15 small boxes shipped and 5 large boxes shipped.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let s = the number of small boxes shipped

Let l = the number of large boxes shipped

Each small box weigh 35 pounds, so (s) small boxes weigh 35s pounds. Each large box weigh 65 pounds, so (l) large boxes weigh 65l pounds. Therefore, the total weight 35s + 65l equals 850:

                                                 35s + 65l = 850

Since there were 3 times as many small boxes shipped as large boxes, there were MORE small boxes, so if we multiply 3 by the number of large boxes, we will get the number of small boxes, meaning s equals 3l

                                                  s = 3l

Write System of Equations:

                                                 35s + 65l = 850

                                                     s = 3l

Substitute value of s into the first equation:

35(3l) + 65l = 850

105l + 65l = 850

170l    850

__   =   __  

170      170

  l = 5

Since l = 5, we know 5 large boxes were shipped.

Use l = 5 to solve for s:

s = 3l

s = 3(5)

s = 15

Since s = 15, we know 15 small boxes were shipped.

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step-by-step explanation: