Expert: Pawan Musale - 9/6/2009

Question
It has been so long since I have been out of school I forgot how to do this problem. If 48 apples cost $3.28, how much would one apple cost? Do I divide 48 by 3.28 or do I divide 3.28 by 48? Please do the figuring out for me, step by step, and how do I do the division or multiplication?. Thank you very much. Al Brown

Answer
Hi Al,

I will explain you how to solve such problem.

Write the given information in following manner:

                 Quantity        Cost
                    48           3.28
                     1             x

x is the cost that we want to find for one apple.

Now in such cases, cross multiply the given values and equate both results like:

           48 * x = 1 * 3.28

Solving this we get,

                x = 3.28/48

So the answer is that we have to divide 3.28 by 48.

I hope this clarifies your doubt. Feel free to write back if you need additional information.

All the best. :)