A man was called forth from his cubicle to perform a time-honoured task: get lunch.
His boss, Medster, told him to get a certain number of salads and bagels. A salad costs $1.10, and a bagel costs $1.50. Medster gave him $32.10, the exact amount needed to buy all the items for 23 people (one item per person). He rushes to The Salad and Bagel Store, and suddenly realizes that he forgets how many bagels and salads to get!
Luckily, the new employee is smart, and successfully figures out how many of each lunch to get.
Using the facts he has, can you figure out how many bagels and salads he needs to get?
Answer
He needs to get 17 bagels and 6 salads.
17 bagels = $25.50
6 salads = $6.60
s = salad
b = bagel
total cost = 32.10
total people = 23
1.1s + 1.5b = 32.10
or
s = (32.10 – 1.5b)/1.1
s + b = 23
or
s = 23 – b
Since both equations equal s, both equal each other, and can be solved like so:
(32.10 – 1.5b)/1.1 = 23 – b
32.10 – 1.5b = 25.30 – 1.1b
32.10 = 25.30 + 0.4b
6.80 = 0.4b
17 = b
Therefore:
s + 17 = 23
s = 6
