McDougal Littell Algebra 2, Chapter 3, 3.2, Section 3.2, Problem 45

1. Make one of the equations equal either x or y, this way you can use substitution to solve the question.
Since the first equation given is simpler, I changed x-y=17 into y=-17=x
2. Now, since we have an equation that equals y, we can substitute that value into the other given equation:
1/2 x-3(-17+x)=1, Now we only have to solve for the x's! X ends up equaling 20!
3. Once we get a numerical value for x, 20, we can plug 20 into the x spot of either equation in order to find y. Y ends up equaling 3.
4. The Completed Result?
X=20
y=3