Question

Nicole bought a desktop computer and a laptop computer. Before finance charges, the laptop cost $ 300 more than the desktop. She paid for the computers using two different financing plans. For the desktop, the interest rate was 6 % per year, and for the laptop it was 7 % per year. The total finance charges for one year were $ 398 . How much did each computer cost before the finance charges?

Answer 1

• desktop: $2900
• laptop: $3200

Explanation:

The given conditions allow us to write two equations. Let d and L represent the costs of the desktop and Laptop computers, respectively. Then we have ...

L -d = 300

.07L +.06d = 398

Multiplying the first equation by 0.06 and adding that to the second equation, we have ...

.06(L -d) +(.07L +.06d) = .06(300) +(398)

0.13L = 416

L = 416/.13 = 3200

d = 3200 -300 = 2900

The desktop computer cost $2900; the laptop computer cost $3200.