Question

Jennifer looked at her budget for the past several months. she determines that three out of every ten dollars she spends on groceries is spent on meat. if jennifer bought $ 72 worth of meat, what was her total grocery bill?

Answer 1

To find Jennifer's total grocery bill after it's known that she spent $72 on meat, which is 30% of her total spending on groceries, we divide $72 by 0.3, resulting in a total grocery bill of $240.

Step-by-step explanation:

When determining Jennifer's total grocery bill, given that three out of every ten dollars she spends on groceries are spent on meat, and she bought $72 worth of meat, we are essentially dealing with a proportion problem. Jennifer's spending on meat represents 30% (or 0.3) of her total grocery expenses.

Thus, if $72 accounts for this 30%, we can calculate the total by dividing the cost of meat by the percentage it represents.

The calculation would be as follows: Total Grocery Bill = $72 / 0.3, which, when computed, yields $240. This means that Jennifer's total grocery bill was $240 if $72 was spent on meat.

This scenario is indicative of the kind of budgeting problems consumers often face, where it's necessary to understand how a part of a whole relates to the entire amount. Budgeting is an essential skill that helps individuals and households manage their finances effectively.

Generally, one could work out such problems using simple division or multiplication to figure out totals or percentages spent on different categories within a budget, without the need of a specific formula.