You have at least $30 in change in your drawer, consiting of dimes and quarters. Write an inequality that shows the different number of coins in your drawer. .10d + .25q = 30 That may be all your teacher wants. or 10d + 25q = 3000 Divide theough by 5 2d + 5q = 600 Maybe that's the form your teacher wants. Or you can go further: 2d + (4q + q) = 600 2d + 4q + q = 600 Divide through by 2 d + 2q += 300 Isolate the fraction: = 300 - d - 2q The right side is an integer A, so the left side must equal integer A also = A ; 300 - d - 2q = A q = 2A Substitute: 300 - d - 2(2A) = A 300 - d - 4A = A -d = 5A - 300 d = -5A + 300 d = 300 - 5A d > 0 so 300 - 5A > 0 -5A > -300 A < 60 q = 2A q > 0 so 2A > 0 A > 0 So 0 < A < 60 So you may choose A as any integer between 0 and 60 Then the number of dimes will be 300 - 5A and the number of quarters will be 2A. Edwin