Question

Write the system and

Brian sold fruit at his stand. Apples cost $0.40 and pears cost $0.50 each. In an afternoon he
sold 52 pieces of fruit and made $24. How many of each did he sell?

Answer 1

20 apples, 32 pears

Explanation:

Using a for number of apples and p for number of pears, you get a+p=52 (amount) and 0.4a+0.5p=24 (cost).

One way of solving simultaneous equations is using like terms and adding/subtracting them to remove a variable. There aren't any like terms here, but we can create some by multiplying terms.

Multiplying the second equation by 2 gives 0.8a+p=48, so that makes a like term.

Since the symbols are the same in front of the like term, we subtract the second term from the first one. This gives 0.2a=4.

Dividing by 0.2 gives a=20.

We can sub this into either equation to get the value of p.

a+p=52, so 20+p=52, meaning p=32.

**This content involves simultaneous equations, which you may want to revise. I'm always happy to help!