Question

Sam bought 2 cups of corn and 4 tacos for $19. Albert bought bought 3 cups of corn and 2

tacos for $14.5
How much are the tacos?
O $3.50
O $2.75
O $2.50
O $3.00

Answer 1

Let's represent the cost of a cup of corn as 'c' and the cost of a taco as 't'.

From the first statement, we know that:

2c + 4t = 19 (equation 1)

From the second statement, we know that:

3c + 2t = 14.5 (equation 2)

We can solve this system of equations using elimination or substitution. Here, we'll use substitution.

Rearranging equation 2, we get:

3c = 14.5 - 2t

Dividing both sides by 3, we get:

c = 4.83 - 0.67t

Now we can substitute this expression for 'c' into equation 1:

2(4.83 - 0.67t) + 4t = 19

Simplifying, we get:

9.66 - 0.34t = 19

Subtracting 9.66 from both sides, we get:

-0.34t = 9.34

Dividing both sides by -0.34, we get:

t = -27.47 ≈ $-2.75

Since a negative price for a taco doesn't make sense, we made an error somewhere. Checking our calculations, we can see that we made a mistake in the expression for 'c'. It should be:

c = (14.5 - 2t)/3

Substituting this expression for 'c' into equation 1:

2[(14.5 - 2t)/3] + 4t = 19

Multiplying both sides by 3:

2(14.5 - 2t) + 12t = 57

Expanding and simplifying:

29 - 4t + 12t = 57

8t = 28

t = 3.5

Therefore, the tacos cost $3.50.