Soybean meal is 12% protein and cornmeal is 6% protein. How many pounds of each should be mixed together in order to get 240 LB mixture that is 8% protein? So in a story problem, there are five steps. The first step define our variables X equal the amount of soybean meal and Y equal the amount of cornmeal. So we know that the total amount was 240. So X + y equal to 40 the amount in protein. The amount of protein in soybean was .12, so it's point 12X. The amount of protein in cornmeal is .06 Y and the amount in the mixture is .08 times the quantity of the mixture, 240. Now we're going to do the elimination method. So we're going to multiply the top equation through by -.12 in order to add the two equations and to get rid of the XS. When we do our math, we get negative .06, Y equaling -9.6, or Y equal 160. Going back and doing the elimination method again, this time eliminating our YS, we would multiply that top equation through by negative .06. So when we do our math this time, we get .06 X equaling 4.8 or X equaling 85. Steps to its story problem. First steps to find the variables. The second step is to set up the equations. The third steps to solve. So we've done three out of five of the steps. The 4th step is to check does 80 + 160 equal 240? Yes, we must check in both equations. So .12 * 80 + .06 * 160 equal .08 * 240. If we do the math, we get 9.6 + 9.6 equal 19.2, so that one does check. That's Step 4. Step 5 is to answer what's asked for. So the mix should contain 80 lbs of soybean meal and 160 lbs of cornmeal.