math question

Question

You are mixing dried mango slices with dried pineapple to create a tropical mix. The mango costs $5.99 per pound and the pineapple costs $3.99 per pound. If you had a 5 pounds bag of the fruit mix that was worth $5.99 per pound, how much of each fruit would there be?

Answer 1

Surprisingly, it is not a mix!

General: You can make mix with any value in the range 3.99 -5.99 per pound. The closer mix to one of the values, the more of that substance you need. In particular, if we have value with one end price, we only use one end substance.

 

In general, if we need to make 5 pounds, and we would like the cost to be 4.50 for example,

we make a system. Look at the table below.

 

Variable           Mango slices          Dried pineapple          Mix

quantity                X                              Y                   5

value                   X•5.99                       Y•3.99            5•4.50

 

The first and second row in this table represent two relationships: the given total weight

and the total value for the two.

 

When you solve that system, you get the values you need.

 

X and Y are positive quantities only when the values for the mix price is between the values of the two prices. If that condition is met, and you get negative answer, check your work.