Question 948715

Kendra has $3.60 in dimes and nickels. If she has 4 times as many dimes as nickels, how many of each coin does she have?

Please help! I've been working on this math problem for HOURS. I've set it up in different ways and haven't been able to get the answer. The way I have it set is: 4x (dimes)+10x(value of dime)+5x(value of nickle)+x(unknown nickles)=360

Thank you for your time and your help!
<pre>Let number of nickels be N
Then number of dimes = 4N
We then get the value equation: .05N + .1(4N) = 3.6
.05N + .4N = 3.6
.45N = 3.6
N, or number of nickels = {{{3.6/.45}}}, or {{{highlight_green(8)}}}
Number of dimes: 4(8), or {{{highlight_green(32)}}}
It's much, much simpler when you use 1 variable.