At a certain committee meeting only associate professors and assistant professors are present. Each associate professor has brought 2 pencils and 1 chart to the meeting, while each assistant professor has brought 1 pencil and 2 charts. If a total of 11 pencils and 16 charts have been brought to the meeting, how many people are present? Pick
A) 6  B) 7  C) 8  D) 9  E) 10

Rationale: "say there are ' a ' associate professors . so we have 2 a pencils and a charts . say there are ' b ' assistant professors . so we have b pencils and 2 b charts . total pencils are 10 so 2 a + b = 11 total charts are 11 so a + 2 b = 16 add both : 3 a + 3 b = 27 so a + b = 9 total number of people = 9 d"
Answer: D