Question

Each morning, a deli worker has to make several pies and peel a bucket of potatoes. on monday, it took the worker 2 h to make the pies and an average of 1.5 min to peel each potato. on tuesday, the worker finished the work in the same amount of time, but it took 2.5 h to make the pies and an average of 1 min to peel each potato. about how many potatoes are in a bucket?

Answer 1

60 potatoes.

Step-by-step explanation:

It is a simple mathematical question in which we find the value of x(potatoes) by equating two scenarios and then finding the value.

The calculations are as follows:

1st scenario:

time t to make pies and peel potatoes on Monday = (2*60) + 1.5x

2nd scenario:

time t to make pies and peel potatoes on Tuesday = (2.5*60) + 1x

Now writing these equations as below:

(2*60) + 1.5x = (2.5*60) + 1x

120 + 1.5x = 150 + 1x

1.5x - 1x = 150-120

0.5x=30

x=30/0.5

x=60.

Answer 2

Answer: There are 60 potatoes in a bucket.

We arrive at the answer as follows:

Let 't' be the total amount of time, in minutes, taken by the worker to bake pies and peel a bucket of potatoes.

Let 'x' be the number of potatoes in a bucket.

So, total time taken by the worker on Monday can be expressed as:

`t = (2*60) + 1.5x`

The total time taken on Tuesday is:

`t = (2.5*60) + 1x`

Since the total time spent by the worker on these two activities on Monday and Tuesday are equal, we can equate the two equations and rewrite them as follows:

`(2.5*60) + 1x = (2*60) + 1.5x`

`150 + 1x = 120 + 1.5x`

`150 - 120 = 1.5x - 1x`

`30 = 0.5x`

`30 = 0.5x`

`x = 60`