Question

Suppose that 12 inches of wires costs 36 cents . At the same rate , how many inches of wire can be brought for 18 cents?

Answer 1

6 inches of wire can be bought for 18 cents.

Explanation:

Step 1:

First, we need to determine how much a single inch of wire costs in cents.

To do this, we divide the cost for x inches of wire by x inches.

So if 12 inches cost 36 cents,

The cost of 1 inch of wire =
`(36)/(12) = 3` cents. So a single inch of wire costs 3 cents.

Step 2:

To determine how much wire can be bought for 18 cents, we divide the 18 cents by the cost of 1 inch of wire i.e. 3 cents.

The amount of wire that can be bought for 18 cents =
`(18)/(3) = 6` inches.

So 6 inches can be bought for 18 cents.