Whats the difference between 5 and a

How do you solve a question like this?

Need ! the total ticket sales for a high school basketball game were $2,260. the ticket price for students were $2.25 less than the adult ticket price. the number of adult tickets sold was 230, and the number of student tickets sold was 180. what was the price of an adult ticket?

You dug a hole that was 8 feet deep. after taking a short break, you dug down 3 more feet in the same hole. when finished digging, a tractor accidentally filled the hole with 4 feet of dirt. how deep is your hole now?