Chloe charged for admission to her play on three different nights. Each night, a different number of people were in attendance, but remarkably, Chloe collected $541 each night. If the admission charges for each child and each adult were $9 and $17, respectively, how many people in total came to the three showings?

1st Play 45 people; 2nd Play 37 people; 3rd Play 53 people

Step-by-step explanation:

Admission prices were: $9 per child & $17 per adult.

It is only matter of playing with the numbers until you get the number you want. In this case, the number all plays have in common is $541 which represents the amount she collected for attendance.

1st Play 28 children ($252) + 17 adults ($289) = $541 and 45 people

2nd Play 11 children ($99) + 26 adults ($442) = $541 and 37 people

3rd Play 45 children ($405) + 8 adults ($136) = $541 and 53 people

This way, each night the number of people in attendance was different but the amount collected in each play was $541.