A parking meter attendant removed 27 coins from a parking meter consisting of dimes and quarters. If the value of these coins was $5.85, then how many of ea

Question

A parking meter attendant removed 27 coins from a parking meter consisting of dimes and quarters. If the value of these coins was $5.85, then how many of each type of coin were in the parking meter?

Answer 1

Let Q = number of quarters and D = number of dimes. Two equations: Q + D = 27; 0.25Q + 0.10D = 5.85.

Solve first equation for D: D = 27 - Q, then substitute this value of D in second equation:

0.25Q + 0.10(27 - Q) = 5.85; 0.25Q + 2.7 - 0.10Q = 5.85; 0.15Q = 3.15; Q = 21. Then, substitute this for Q in first equation to get D = 27 - 21 = 6. 6 dimes = $0.60, 21 quarters = $5.25, 5.25 + 0.60 = 5.85.