Cindy bought five dresses for $20 each and three pairs of shoes for $20 each she use this expression to calculate the total amount she spent

The total amount of money Cindy spends is:

(Number of dresses times dress price) + (Number of shoes times shoe price)

So we can use the expression 5*20 + 3*20 to find the total amount spent.

Since the prices are the same, we could also combine the quantity of dresses and shoes and use 8*20.