document.write( "Question 286376: A woman has $2.15 in change in her purse, comprised entirely of dimes and quarters. Given that there are more quarters than dimes in her purse, what is the total number of coins?\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "A. 9 B. 10 C. 11 D. 12 E. 13
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Algebra.Com's Answer #207674 by ptaylor(2198)\"\" \"About 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x=number of quarters
\n" ); document.write( "And y=number of dimes
\n" ); document.write( "We are told that:
\n" ); document.write( "($ understood)
\n" ); document.write( "x>y-------------------eq1
\n" ); document.write( "and
\n" ); document.write( "0.25x+0.10y=2.15 multiply each term by 100 and divide by each term by 5 (get rid of decimals and reduce size) :
\n" ); document.write( "5x+2y=43 solve for y
\n" ); document.write( "2y=43-5x
\n" ); document.write( "y=(43-5x)/2----------------------eq2
\n" ); document.write( "Now we know that the number of dimes and quarters has to be positive numbers as well as whole numbers
\n" ); document.write( "Looking at eq2, we see that x has to be less than or equal to 8, otherwise the
\n" ); document.write( "number of dimes will be negative
\n" ); document.write( "But x cannot be 8--that would make the number of dimes a fraction(3/2)
\n" ); document.write( "How about 7 for x? Then y=(43-35)/2=4
\n" ); document.write( "7 quarters and 4 dimes fill the requirement of eq1, but does this add up to $2.15?
\n" ); document.write( "$1.75+$0.40=$2.15---------------This is a solution. Are there others??
\n" ); document.write( "How about 6 for x?----No good, y is a fraction
\n" ); document.write( "How about 5 for x? ---Then y=(43-25)/2=9 No good because the requirement of eq1 is not satisfied even though these add up to $2.15
\n" ); document.write( "And anything smaller than 5 will make y>x
\n" ); document.write( "Ans: 7 quarters; 4 dimes=D --11 coins\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Hope this helps---ptaylor
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