Package a contains 3 birthday cards and 2 you notes and costs $18. package b contains 8 birthday cards and 6 you notes and costs $50. if x represents the cost of a birthday card and y represents the cost of a you note, how much does each birthday card cost?

Two equations can be generated from the equation above, one for Package A and the other for Package B.
 
                 (Package A)      3x + 2y = 18
                 (Package B)      8x + 6y = 50

Solving simultaneously for the values of x and y gives, x = 4 and y = 3. Hence, each birthday card costs $4.