Question 215899: Rory claims: "I have $20 in quarters, half dollars, and one-dollar bills. I have twice as many quarters as half dollars, and half as many one-dollar bills as half dollars". Give a convincing argument to explain why he must be wrong?
Answer by ptaylor(2198)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! CONVINCING ARGUMENT:
In order for his claim to be correct, the number quarters, half-dollars and one dollar bills need to be whole numbers and this does not happen. When we solve our equation, we end up with 13 1/3 half dollars, so his claim must be flawed.
Let x=number of half dollars; 0.5x=value of half dollars
Then 2x=number of quarters; 0.25(2x)=0.5x=value of quarters
And 0.5x= number of dollar bills; 1(0.5x)=0.5x=value of dollar bills
So, our equation to solve is:
0.5x+0.5x+0.5x=20
1.5x=20 divide each side by 1.5
x=13 1/3 --------------number of half dollars NO WAY!!!!!
Hope this helps---ptaylor
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