Gina deposits $250 at the start of each year into a college savings account that pays 4% simple interest at the end of each year. She does not deposit the interest she earns each year. How much total interest will Gina earn on her deposits through the end of the fifth year?

Through the end of the fifth year, Gina will earn $

Um what? rephrase that ?

So the first thing we do is to multiply the top equation by 3. the reason i want to do this is i notice there will be a 6y on both equations and can possibly add/subtract them. so we get 6y = -3x + 27. adding that and the second equation we get 6x = 27-15 which is 12. divide by 6 and we get 2. ∴ x = 2. substituting 2 into the first equation we get 2y = -2 + 9 which is 7. divide by 2 and we get 7/2. ∴ y = 7/2, x = 2.