Question

The freshman and sophomore classes at Yardley High School are decorating floats for homecoming. The freshmen have already spent $51 on their float, plus they need to buy floral sheeting that costs $41 per roll.

The sophomores, who have spent $115 so far on theirs, still need to purchase vinyl grass at $40 per roll. Both classes plan to buy the same number of rolls, since they have the same area to cover. By coincidence, the two floats will have the same total cost in the end. How much will each class spend in total?
How many rolls will each class be buying?
The two classes will have each spend
$____
in total by buying $____ rolls

Answer 1

Answer: Let's start by setting up equations to represent the total cost for each class. Let x be the number of rolls each class buys.

For the freshmen: total cost = $51 + $41x

For the sophomores: total cost = $115 + $40x

Since the two floats will have the same total cost in the end, we can set these two equations equal to each other and solve for x:

$51 + $41x = $115 + $40x

$x = 64

So each class will be buying 64 rolls of their respective materials. Now we can plug this value of x back into either equation to find the total cost for each class:

Freshmen: $51 + $41(64) = $2692

Sophomores: $115 + $40(64) = $2595

Therefore, each class will spend $2692 and will be buying 64 rolls.

Explanation: