a merchant has coffee worth $3 a pound

Question

a merchant has coffee worth $3 a pound that she wishes to mix with 60 pounds of coffee worth $7 a pound to get a mixture worth $6 a pound. how many pounds of the $3 coffee should be used?

Answer 1

Bailee, let's let p = the pounds of coffee we need.

 

3p + 7(60) = 6(p+ 60)

 

The total price of the $3 coffee is going to be the pounds x price per pound. The total amount of coffee is the number of pounds of each added together.

 

3p + 420 = 6p + 360

3p = 60

p = 20

 

Let's check.

 

If I have 20 pounds of $3 coffee, that's $60 worth of coffee. The 60 pounds of $7 coffee is $420. That's $480 worth of coffee, and we have 80 total pounds of coffee, so the mixture is $6 per pound.

 

Hope this helps!