staples sells CDS($2.00) and boxes of computer paper($3) total sales were 1560 and customers bought 5 times more CDS as paper. how many CDS were sold

Question

I need to solve this deperalty, the answer I'm getting does not make sense 

Answer 1

This problem has a couple of ways that it may be answered depending on how the 1560 is read there, as I don't know if the lack of a dollar sign on it is a typo (meaning that $1560 of product was sold) or if that's correct (meaning that how many items were sold

 

Let's look at it as items-option first, then we'll find the answer if it's money.

Here's what we know:

c = 5p (CDs sold is 5 times  the amount of paper sold)

c + p = 1560 (total number of items sold is 1560)

 

plug in the value of the variable:

5p + p = 1560

6p = 1560

Divide by 6:

p = 260

 

c = 5 * 260

c = 1300

check:

1300 + 260 = 1560

1560 = 1560

 

Now for money possibility:

c = 5p

2c + 3p = 1560 (the total sales of the items equals $1560)

Plug in the variable value:

2(5p) + 3p = 1560

10p + 3p = 1560

13p = 1560

divide by 13:

p = 120

 

c = 5 * 120

c = 600

check:

2 * 600 + 3 * 120 = 1560

1200 + 360 = 1560

1560 = 1560

 

So those are the two possible answers to your question depending on the placement or lack thereof the dollar sign.