Question

A storekeeper wishes to sell 100 pounds of mixed nuts for $1.75 a pound. He mixes peanuts worth $1.65 a pound with cashews worth $1.90 a pound. How many pounds of each does he use?

Answer 1

40 pounds of cashews and 60 pounds of peanuts.

Wow thats a lot of nuts!

Answer 2

• 40 lbs cashews
• 60 lbs peanuts

Explanation:

Let c represent the weight of cashews in the mix. Then (100 -c) is the weight of peanuts, and the total cost of the 100 lbs of mix will be ...

... 1.90c +1.65(100 -c) = 1.75·100 . . . . total cost of the mix

... 0.25c +165 = 175 . . . . . . . . simplify

... 0.25c = 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . subtract 165

... c = 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . divide by 0.25

There will be 40 lbs of cashews and 100-40 = 60 lbs of peanuts in the mix.