A jar contains nickels and pennies. There are 56 coins in the jar in all. The total value of the coins is $1.52. How many pennies are in the jar?

Question

 A jar contains nickels and pennies. There are 56 coins in the jar in all. The total value of the coins is $1.52. How many pennies are in the jar?

Answer 1

let x = the number of nickels

 

the number of pennies can be represented by (56 - x)

 

.05x + .01(56 - x) = 1.52

 

5x + (56 - x) = 152    if in the above line we multiply both sides of the equation by 100

 

4x + 56 = 152

 

4x = 96

 

x = 24

 

There are 24 nickels and 56 - 24 = 32 pennies

 

24 nickels are worth 24 * 5 = $1.20 and 32 pennies are obviously worth 32 cents, so the total is 1.20 + 0.32 = $1.52