Hi there! :)
Answer:
Serena bought 0.75 pounds of pork and about 3.93 pounds of beef.
Explanation:
Lets start by laying out the important information we know:
- Beef = $3.50/pound → 1 pound of beef = $3.50
- Pork = $2.00/pound → 1 pound of pork = $2.00
- Buys 0.75 pounds of pork → buys 0.75 of 1 pound of pork
- Buys x pounds of beef
- Spends $15.25 in total → 0.75 pounds of pork + x pounds of beef = $15.25
Once this is done, it's much easier to see what we are dealing with (when it's just a bunch of words it's a lot harder to understand).
Creating your algebraic equation:
Algebraically, your equation needs to be equal to the total amount that Serena spent on pork and beef.
She bought 0.75 of 1 pound of pork, which in other words means that she bought 0.75 of $2.00. The word "of" is the same thing as a multiplication sign. SO, all of this would translate into this: (0.75 × 2)
She then bought beef, but we don't know how much. What we can do is replace the "amount of pounds of beef she bought" with the letter "x". Remember, 1 pound of beef is $3.50. SO, all of this would translate into this: 3.50x
Your algebraic equation should look like this:
(0.75 × 2) + 3.50x = 15.25
Now all you need to do is solve this equation by isolating "x":
(0.75 × 2) + 3.50x = 15.25
1.5 + 3.50x = 15.25
Subtract 1.5 from each side of the equation → 15.25 - 1.5 = 13.75
3.50x = 13.75
Divide each side of the equation by 3.50 → 13.75 ÷ 3.50 = 3.92857143...
x ≈ 3.93
There you go! I really hope this helped, if there's anything just let me know! :)