Solve the following pair of simultaneous equations: 5x+2y=8 and 2x+y=7

In my opinion the easiest way of approaching simultaneous equations is to first number your equations. 5x+2y=82x+y=7This helps avoid confusion later in the working. Next choose the variable you want to solve first, if both variables have different coefficients (such as above) I'd advise picking the variable with the most similar coefficient, in this example that would be y and 2y. Our aim is to make the coefficients the same in order to eliminate y as a variable. To do this we need to multiply equation 2. by 22 x 2x+y=7This creates equation 3. 4x+2y=14Now we can subtract equation 3. from equation 1. to leave us with only an x variable x=-6Substitute x back into one of the equations to find y. y= 19