SOLUTION: Kit bought a soft drink and a sandwich for $9 what was the price of each if the sandwich cost 3.5 times more than the soft drink

Question 1109626: Kit bought a soft drink and a sandwich for $9 what was the price of each if the sandwich cost 3.5 times more than the soft drink

Found 2 solutions by Alan3354, greenestamps:
Answer by Alan3354(69443) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Kit bought a soft drink and a sandwich for $9 what was the price of each if the sandwich cost 3.5 times more than the soft drink
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1 time more = 100% more = 2x
2 time more = 200% more = 3x
3 time more = 300% more = 4x
3.5 time more = 350% more = 4.5x as much
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D = price of soft drink
S = price of sandwich
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D + 4.5D = $9
5.5D = 900
D = 1800/11 cents
S = 4.5D = 8100/11 cents

Answer by greenestamps(13200) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

The answer obtained by alan3354 can't be right; the cost of the soft drink and the cost of the sandwich should be whole numbers.

However, the way the problem is worded, his solution is correct.

The trouble is with the statement of the problem. As he demonstrated at the beginning of his response, "3.5 times MORE THAN" DOES NOT mean the same thing as "3.5 times AS MUCH AS". Grammatically, 3.5 times more than means the original amount, plus 3.5 times that amount more -- i.e., 4.5 times AS MUCH AS.

Unfortunately, in everyday sloppy language, the two phrases are (incorrectly) used to mean the same thing.

So to get an answer to your problem, you need to change "3.5 times more than" to "3.5 times as much as". Then we will have

x = cost of soft drink
3.5x = cost of sandwich

The soft drink costs x = $2; the sandwich costs 3.5x = $2(3.5) = $7.
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