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A dietitian at a hospital wants a patient to have a meal that has 64 grams of protein, 29 grams of carbohydrates, and 72.5 milligrams of vitamin A The hospital food
service tells the dietitian that the dinner for today is salmon steak, baked eggs, and acorn squash. Each serving of salmon steak has 40 grams of protein, 10 grams
carbohydrates, and 1 milligram of vitamin A. Each serving of baked eggs contains 20 grams of protein, 2 grams of carbohydrates, and 20 miligrams of vitamin A
Each serving of acom squash contains 4 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbohydrates, and 32 milligrams of vitamin A How many servings of each food should the
dietitian provide for the patient?

Answer 1

• steak: 1/2
• baked eggs: 2
• acorn squash: 1

Explanation:

Let s, b, a represent the numbers of servings of steak, baked eggs, and acorn squash, respectively. Then the equations we want to solve are ...

40s +20b +4a = 64 . . . . grams of protein

10s +2b +20a = 29 . . . . grams of carbohydrate

1s +20b +32a = 72.5 . . . milligrams of vitamin A

There are any number of calculators or web sites that will solve this system of equations for you. The solution is ...

s = 0.5

b = 2

a = 1

The dietitian should provide 1/2 serving of steak, 2 servings of baked eggs, and 1 serving of acorn squash.