The equations are already arranged in a manner that the unknowns can be solved directly by forward substitution (3s=30 => s=something, 2k+s=20 => 2k=something => k=something,...). I am shocked that so many people in that twitter thread are not able to solve them.
Edit. But this may be a trick question, because in the last equation, what you have is not a pair of shoes, but one single shoe. The same for the thingy wrapped in newspaper.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 34.0 ms ] thread1) It is evil 2) Is it actually teaching math?
Without reading any comments, your first attempt to solve it will most probably be wrong.
6s = 30 -> s = 5
2b + 2s = 20 -> 2b = 20 - 10 -> b = 5
4p + 1b = 13 -> 4p = 13 - 5 -> 4p = 8 -> p = 2
------------------------>
1s + ((1b + 2s + 2p) * 1p) = ?
5 + ((5 + 25 + 22) * 2) = ?
5 + ((5 + 10 + 4) * 2) = ?
5 + (19 * 2) = ?
5 + 38 = 43
----------------->
[6s] + [4p + 1b] = 43
65 + 42 + 5 = 43
30 + 8 + 5 = 43
---------------->
[6s] + [4p + 1b] = 43
[6s] + [4p + 1b] =? 1s + ((1b + 2s + 2p) * 1p)
[6s] + [4p + 1b] =? 1s + [(1bp + 2sp + 2p^2)]
[6s] + [4p + 1b] =? 5 + [52 + 252 + 2(2*2)]
[6s] + [4p + 1b] =? 5 + [10 + 20 + 8]
[6s] + [4p + 1b] =? 5 + 38
[6s] + [4p + 1b] =? 43
43 = 43
Edit. But this may be a trick question, because in the last equation, what you have is not a pair of shoes, but one single shoe. The same for the thingy wrapped in newspaper.