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10 votes
10 votes
a family is going to the fair. they have a coupon for $1.50 off each ticket. if they pay $46.50 for all their tickets, how much does a ticket cost without the coupon?

User Navruzbek Noraliev
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1 Answer

14 votes
14 votes

Answer:

No answer since we have two unknowns and only one equation.

Explanation:

We aren't told how many are in the "family." So we have two unknowns, the price, p, of each undiscounted ticket, and the number, x, of family members requiring tickets.

The best we can do is set the equation for the total amount paid:

The ticket after discount is (p-1.50).

The total paid would be x(p-1.50), and we know that is equal to $46.50:

x(p-1.5) = 46.50

We have only 1 equation but 2 unknowns, x and p. We can reduce this equation to:

xp = 48

in order to consider some possible scenarios.

xp=48 tells us that product of family members times ticket price is equal to 48. There are a lot of possible solutions:

x and p could be:

6 and 8

4 and 12

3 and 16

2 and 24

We can't be sure which of these options is correct. I'd venture to make a guess if we knew which fair they were visiting and the type of family.

2 and 24 might be two newlyweds attending a fair for a new Disney Park opening.

6 and 8 might be for a suburban family that is only interested in corn dogs and blooming onions.

Once the family size is known, one of these options will become obvious.

User Oleg Fridman
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