Question

A shopkeeper bought 50 pangas and 30 jembes from a wholesaler A for sh. 4,260. Had he bought half as many jembes and 5 pangas less, he would have paid sh 1,290 less. Had the shopkeeper bought from wholesaler B, he would have paid 10% more for a panga and 15% less for a jembe. How much would he have saved if he had bought the 50 pangas and the 30 jembes from wholesaler B.

Answer 1

The solution involves setting up simultaneous equations using the prices from wholesaler A, solving for the price of a panga and a jembe, and then calculating what the total cost would be from wholesaler B with adjusted prices. The difference between the two totals can then be determined as the savings.

Step-by-step explanation:

To answer the question regarding how much the shopkeeper would save if he had bought the 50 pangas and the 30 jembes from wholesaler B, we first need to set up two equations based on the information given about wholesaler A's prices.

Let P represent the price of one panga and J represent the price of one jembe. According to the problem:

• 50P + 30J = 4260 (initial purchase)
• (50 - 5)P + (30 / 2)J = 4260 - 1290 (if the shopkeeper had bought 5 fewer pangas and half as many jembes, he would have paid 1290 shillings less)

Solving these equations simultaneously, we can find the individual prices of a panga and a jembe at wholesaler A. Once we have P and J, we can calculate the total price at wholesaler B considering the 10% increase in the price of a panga and a 15% reduction in the price of a jembe:

• Total cost at wholesaler B for 50 pangas = 50 * P * 1.10
• Total cost at wholesaler B for 30 jembes = 30 * J * 0.85

By comparing the total cost from wholesaler A and wholesaler B using the derived prices for P and J, we can determine the savings.