Mrs.VanRiper went to Costco and got a box of 36 bags of skittles for $17.84.How much did each bag cost.

Question

I know that Mrs,VanRiper has bought a box of 36 skittles bags for $17.84. I need to know how much each bag cost

Answer 1

Hi Michelle, 

If 36 bags cost $17.84, we find the cost of each bag through the following:

(Total cost)/(number of bags)=(cost for one bag) General Equation

17.84/36=(cost for one bag) Plug in our given values

0.49555555555555556=(cost for one bag) Solve for our unknown

∴The cost of one bag was .50 since we round 0.49555555555555556 to the nearest ten.

Best, 

Star

Answer 2

This problem asks you to find the cost per bag.

 

To change the units of an expression without changing the value, we use the Multiplicative Identity (that is, 1).

 

We need the following information:

    1 box = 36 bags

 

Mrs. VanRiper spent:

                $17.84 for 1 box

                ( ($17.84)/(1 box) )

                ( ($17.84)/(1 box) ) * 1

                ( ($17.84)/(1 box) ) * ( (1 box)/(36 bags) )             [note: box cancels, leaving only $/bag]

                ($17.84/1)(1/36) / bag

                 $ 0.495555556/bag         which Costco (and everybody else) rounds to $0.50/bag.

 

Just to check:

  Much would 36 bags cost at a price of $0.50 per bag?

              36*$0.50 ≈ $18.00         (pretty close!)