AboutAbe Mantell Expertise Hello, I am a college professor of mathematics and regularly teach all levels from elementary mathematics through differential equations, and would be happy to assist anyone with such questions!
Experience Over 15 years teaching at the college level.
Question Hello, I am having a very hard time understanding how to do this problem and I was wondering if you could please help me. "As junior employee in your office, you are sent to get hamburgers and hot dogs for the 23 people who work there, On the way, you forget how many of each to buy. So you decide to figure it out with algebra. Each person gets one burger or one dog (not both). You have collected a total of $32.10. Burgers cost $1.50 each and dogs cost $1.10 each. How many of each should you buy? Thank you very much for your help!
Answer Hello Jeff,
Let x=# of burgers you need to buy, and y=# of hot dogs you need to buy
Thus,
1. x+y=23 (since there are 23 people and only one item/person)
2. 1.50x+1.10y=32.10 (the total cost)
Solving these yields: x=17, y=6 ==> 17 burgers & 6 hot dogs.
I trust you can solve the two equations to get the above results, yes?
