Alicia purchased h half gallons of ice cream for $3.50 each and p packages of ice cream cones for $2.50 each. she purchased 14 items and spent $43. what would the system of equations look like to find out how many of each item alicia purchased?

The first thing you should do is name the variables of the system of equations.
 We have then:
 H = half gallons of ice cream
 P = packages of ice cream cones
 The system of equations that adapts to the problem is:
 H + P = 14
 3.50H + 2.50P = 43
 
 The system of equations to find out how many of each item Alicia purchased look like
 H + P = 14
 3.50H + 2.50P = 43

The scale factor of what ?