Question

Caitlin had 3 times the number of quarters ( 25 cents) in his bag than dimes ( 10 cents). a. If he had a total of 72 coins, how many of them were quarters?

Answer 1

Caitlin had 3 times the number of quarters than dimes. So however many dimes she has, that number times three would be the number of quarters she has.

There are 72 coins total.

Dimes + Quarters = 72

Quarters are three times the amount as dimes.

If dimes are x, then quarters are 3x.

So the question is:

x + 3x = 72

Add like terms

4x = 72

Divide by 4 on both sides.

x = 18

So since dimes are x, we have 18 dimes. Since quarters are 3x, we can simply do 18 times 3, which gives us 54 quarters.

You can check your work by doing 18+54 which is indeed 72.

So there are 54 quarters.