Estelle is helping at a community food drive by boxing up cans of soup. There are two sizes of boxes, large and small. Estelle fills 3 large boxes and 5 small boxes with 170 soup cans total. The boy working next to her fills 4 large boxes and 4 small boxes with 184 soup cans total. How many cans does each small box hold?

The small box contains 21 cans

Step-by-step explanation:

Represent the small box with S and the large with L.

For Estelle:

For the boy:

Required

Determine the cans in the small box

--- (1)

--- (2)

Divide (2) through by 4

Make L the subject

Substitute 46 - S for L in (1)

Open bracket

Collect Like Terms

Divide both sides by 2

Hence, the small box contains 21 cans