Question

One kind of candy (jelly) sells for $5 a pound and another (chocolate) for $10 a pound. How many pounds of each should be used to make a mixture of 10 pounds of candy (both kinds) that sells for a total $80 (i.e. $8/pound)?

Answer 1

• chocolate: 6 pounds
• jelly: 4 pounds

Explanation:

Let x represent the number of pounds of chocolate in the mix. Then the total price of 10 pounds of mix is ...

10x +5(10 -x) = 80

5x +50 = 80

5x = 30

x = 6 . . . . . . . . pounds of chocolate

10 -x = 4 . . . . . pounds of jelly candy

6 pounds of chocolate and 4 pounds of jelly should be used to make the mixture.