Question

Bill makes leather shoes. He charges $45 for a pair of women's shoes and $50 for a pair of men's shoes. He sells x pairs of women’s shoes and y pairs of men’s shoes each week and earns a total income of $2,500.

This situation can be represented by the equation 45x + 50y = 2,500 (45 + 50)xy = 2,500 . If Bill has no female customers during a particular week, he needs to sell 45 50 pairs of men’s shoes to earn his weekly income of $2,500.

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Answer 1

45x + 50y = 2500

if x = 0

0 + 50y = 2500

50y = 2500

y = 2500/50

y = 50

Bill needs to sell 50 pairs of men shoes if he does not sell any pair of women shoes in a particular week, to keep the income of $2500.

Answer 2

Essentially, the question can be rephrased as "if Bill wants to make 2500 dollars, how many male shoes does he have to sell"?

we divide 2500 by the prize of a male pare of shoes, 50 dollars:

2500/50=50

so he has to sell 50 pairs of male shoes!