Bill and Jean are both cleaning out their garages. Bill makes a certain number of trips to the dump and Jean makes that many trips plus 6. If they make 40 trips total, how many trips does Jean make?
Define a variable ** Let b be the number of trips Bill makes and j be the number Jean makes. We know that b + j = 40, and j = b + 6.
Write an equation ** Substituting the first equation into the second equation, we get b + b + 6 = 40
Combine like terms ** Combining like terms, we get 2b + 6 = 40
Subtract 6 ** Subtracting 6 from both sides, we get 2b = 34
Divide by 2 ** Dividing both sides by 2, we get b = 17
How many trips does Jean make? ** Substituting that value back into j = b + 6, we get j = 17 + 6 = <<17+6=23>>23
#### 23