SOLUTION: A grocer mixes two kind of nuts One kind costs $5.00/kg and the other $5.80/kg. How many kilograms of each type are needed to make 40 kg of a blend worth $5.50/kg

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Question 713402: A grocer mixes two kind of nuts One kind costs $5.00/kg and the other $5.80/kg. How many kilograms of each type are needed to make 40 kg of a blend worth $5.50/kg

Answer by josgarithmetic(39617) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
You have a general question, someone mixes two kinds of materials. One has a lower given strength and the other has a higher given strength. How much of each material must be mixed to get a certain amount of mixture of a particular intermediate strength.

This "strength" used in that general question may be cost, price, money, percent, some other kind of concentration unit.

Here deals with this grocer's problem:

ASSIGN VARIABLES TO ALL QUANTITIES
L, the lower concentration of available material, $5.00/kg
H, the higher concentration of available material, $5.80/kg
T, the target concentration of resulting mixture, $5.50/kg
x, the amount of lower concentrated material to use, unknown
y, the amount of higher concentrated materaial to use, unknown
M, amount of the resulting mixture, 40 kg.

highlight%28%28Lx%2ByH%29%2FM=T%29
That can be partly changed by multiplying both sides by M to get Lx+yH=TM.
The mass or material sum equation will also be used for completing the system.
highlight%28x%2By=M%29
This one easily allows us to substitute for either x or for y in the rational equation to solve for just one variable and get its value.

%28Lx%2ByH%29%2FM=T
Lx%2ByH=TM
Lx%2B%28M-x%29H=TM
Lx%2BHM-Hx=TM
%28L-H%29x%2BHM=TM
%28L-H%29x=TM-HM
%28L-H%29x=%28T-H%29M
x=M%28T-H%29%2F%28L-H%29, and since the two differences here would both be negative,
we can multiply by (-1)/(-1),
x=M%28H-T%29%2F%28H-L%29

In brief summary, this general two part mixture problem can be well solved all symbolically using the above process, leading to the use of these two formulas:

highlight%28x=M%28H-T%29%2F%28H-L%29%29 and highlight%28y=M-x%29.
Substitute the given values to find x, and then find the value for y, using these two final formulas.