Question

A supermarket is selling two types of​ candies, orange slices and strawberry leaves. The orange slices cost $ 1.29 per pound and the strawberry leaves cost $ 1.79 per pound. How many pounds of each should be mixed to get a 13​-pound mixture that sells for $ 19.27​?

Answer 1

• 5 lb of strawberry leaves
• 8 lb of orange slices

Explanation:

Let "o" and "s" represent the number of pounds of orange slices and strawberry leaves in the mix, respectively. We want ...

o + s = 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . total weight

1.29o +1.79s = 19.27 . . . . . .total cost

Solving the first equation for o, we can substitute that result into the second equation to get ...

o = 13 -s

1.29(13 -s) +1.79s = 19.27

0.50s +16.77 = 19.27 . . . . eliminate parentheses

0.50s = 2.50 . . . . . . . . . . . subtract 16.77

s = 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . multiply by 2

o = 13 -5 = 8

5 pounds of strawberry leaves should be mixed with 8 pounds of orange slices to get the desired mixture.