Lets work through to the answer.

The first thing to do is simplify the situation by taking the clown out of the picture.  We know the clown + the pin is worth 7…
so clown = 7 – pin.

Now we replace the clown in the 2nd equation with ‘7 – Pin’

From the first equation  the pineapple = 7 – 2 pins

We can change the 2nd equation to be just about Pins.

3 x ( 7 – 2 Pins) + 7 – Pin = 14

28 -7 Pins = 14

so 7 Pins are worth 14, and 1 pin is worth 2. We can find from the other two equations.

I’ve solved this by a ‘substitution method’ I could also have done this by adding or subtracting equations.  But the key is to eliminate some of the variables until we have one, then substitute back.

 

 

The final stage relies on knowing we should do the multiplication first, so the answer is

2 + 5 x 3 = 17.