SOLUTION: A carpenter goes to a hardware store to buy a specific number of pounds of nails for his business. The first store he enters sells his favorite size nails at 9 cents per pound. At
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Question 139780: A carpenter goes to a hardware store to buy a specific number of pounds of nails for his business. The first store he enters sells his favorite size nails at 9 cents per pound. At this price, the carpenter realized that he would be short $7.15 if he tried to buy the nails. The carpenter goes to a competing hardware store and finds that the nails sell for 6 cents a pound. He realizes that after paying for the nails, he would have $2.45 left over. How many pounds of nails is he trying to buy? Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! The first store he enters sells his favorite size nails at 9 cents per pound. At this price, the carpenter realized that he would be short $7.15 if he tried to buy the nails. The carpenter goes to a competing hardware store and finds that the nails sell for 6 cents a pound. He realizes that after paying for the nails, he would have $2.45 left over. How many pounds of nails is he trying to buy?
:
Let x = lb of nails required
Let y = amt of money he has
:
Write an equation for each store:
.09x = y + 7.15
.06x = y - 2.45
We can also write it, subtract and eliminate y:
.09x - y = 7.15
.06x - y = -2.45
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.03x = +9.60
x =
x = 320 lb of nails
:
check solution by finding the cost of each; the dif should be 7.15 + 2.45 = 9.60
320*.09 = 28.80
320*.06 = 19.20
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differs by 9.60
