SOLUTION: A dealer purchased a number of equally priced articles for a total cost of £120. She sold all but one of them, making a profit of £1.50 on each article with a total revenue of £135

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Question 356417: A dealer purchased a number of equally priced articles for a total cost of £120. She sold all but one of them, making a profit of £1.50 on each article with a total revenue of £135. How many articles did she purchase?
Answer by stanbon(75887) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A dealer purchased a number of equally priced articles for a total cost of £120. She sold all but one of them, making a profit of £1.50 on each article with a total revenue of £135. How many articles did she purchase?
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Let the original number of articles be "x".
Average price of those x items = 120/x
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Equation:
(x-1)[(120/x)+1.50] = 135
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120 +1.5x - (120/x)-1.5 = 135
118.5 + 1.5x - 120/x = 135
1.5x -120/x - 16.5 = 0
1.5x^2 -16.5x - 120 = 0
x^2 - 11x - 80 = 0
(x+5)(x-16) = 0
Positive solution:
x = 16 articles
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Cheers,
Stan H.