A total of 394 tickets were sold for the school play. They were either adult tickets or student tickets. There were 56fewer student tickets sold than adult tickets. How many adult tickets were sold?

Let s be the number of student tickets.

Let a be the number of adult tickets.

s + a = 394

s = a - 56

Substitute a-56 in equation 1.

a - 56 + a = 394

2a - 56 = 394

2a = 450

a = 225 tickets

So you can do this by using a system of equations

x=student tickets

y=adult tickets

x+y=394

x+56=y

then you substitute y in

x + (x+56) = 394

2x+56=394

2x=394-56

2x=338

x=169 which is the number of student tickets

then you find the amount of adult tickets

x+56=y

169+56=y

225=y

and now you can check it

225+169=394

394=394

Answer:

169 student tickets were sold

225 adult tickets were sold