Question

Corinne bought 5 bags of chips and 4 jars of dipping sauce for $21.82. At the same prices, Ginger bought 4 bags of chips and 3 jars of dipping sauce for $16.86. What is the price of one jar of dipping sauce?

Answer 1

Answer: $2.98

Explanation:

Let B = price of a bag of chips and J = price of a jar of dipping sauce.

Write a system of equations to represent the cost of the purchases.

Answer 2

$2.98

Explanation:

5 bags of chips and 4 jars of dipping sauce cost $21.82. Also, 4 bags of chips and 3 jars of dipping sauce cost $16.86.

This problem can be modeled using linear equations in two variables.

Let
`c` be the cost of a bag of chip and
`s` be the cost of a jar of dipping sauce.

The information yields the equations

`5c+4s=21.82,4c+3s=16.86\\\textrm{Multiply first equation by 4 and second equation by 5}\\20c+16s=87.28,20c+15s=84.3\\\textrm{Subtracting second equation from the first one}\\s=\$2.98`

∴ A jar of dipping sauce costs
`\$2.98`.