Question

Sam was building a suspension bridge for the playground at an elementary school and needed some chain link and rope.He bought a total of 80 feet of materials. The chain link cost $2.00 per foot, and the rope cost $1.50 per foot. He spent a total of $135. How much of eacb did he buy?

Answer 1

30 feet of chain link and 50 feet of rope

Explanation:

Let's call the amount of chain link as x and the amount of rope as y. We can write:

x + y = 80 -- Equation 1

2x + 1.5y = 135 -- Equation 2

2x + 2y = 160 -- Equation 3 (Multiply Equation 1 by 2)

0.5y = 25 (Subtract Equation 2 from Equation 3)

y = 50 (Divide by 2)

x + 50 = 80 (Substitute y = 50 into Equation 1)

x = 30 (Subtract 50)