Together, Alan and Marcy handed out 150 parking tickets. If Marcy handed out 6 fewer than 5 times as many tickets as Alan, how many tickets did Alan hand out?
How many tickets does Marcy hand out? ** Let a be the number of tickets Alan hands out and m be the number Marcy hands out. We know that a + m = 150 and m = 5a - 6
Write an equation ** Substituting the second equation into the first, we get a + 5a - 6 = 150
Simplify ** Adding 2 to both sides, we get a + 5a = 156
Simplify ** Combining like terms, we get 6a = 156
Divide by 6 ** Dividing both sides by 6, we get a = 26
#### 26