document.write( "Question 286376: A woman has $2.15 in change in her purse, comprised entirely of dimes and quarters. Given that there are more quarters than dimes in her purse, what is the total number of coins?\r
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document.write( "A. 9 B. 10 C. 11 D. 12 E. 13 \n" );
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Algebra.Com's Answer #207674 by ptaylor(2198)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! Let x=number of quarters \n" ); document.write( "And y=number of dimes \n" ); document.write( "We are told that: \n" ); document.write( "($ 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 \n" ); document.write( " |