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Casper bought some pencils at 50 cents each. He had 3 dollars after the purchase. If he wanted to buy the same number
of note pads at 80 cents each, he would be short $1.50. Write a linear equation for the number of pencils he purchased. Then solve it.
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Your equation is this
50n + 300 = n*80 - 150. (*) (written in cents !)
The left part is described by these sentences: "Casper bought some pencils at 50 cents each. He had 3 dollars after the purchase."
The right part is this sentence: "If he wanted to buy the same number of note pads at 80 cents each, he would be short $1.50."
Now solve equation (*).
300 + 150 = 80n - 50n, or
30n = 450,
n = = 15.
Answer. Thus you found that the number of pencils is 15.