a word problem

Question

karla has spent $42 on food.she bought milk chesse and meat. the milk cost half as much as the cheese and the meat cost four times as much as the cheese. how much the cheese cost

Answer 1

Let put X as the cheese price.

Cheese=X

then milk =X/2

and meat=4X

That will lead to this equation

X+X/2+4X=42

Multiply the entire equation by 2

2X+x+8X=84

11X=84

X=84/11

the cheese costs $7.636

 

Answer 2

Think of this one as an algebra problem where:

m= cost of milk

c=cost of cheese

x=cost of meat

 

and where m+c+x = 42 (so the cost of each of the items equals 42 dollars as stated in the problem)

 

The next part says that milk costs half as much as cheese, so therefore m=2c

And the last part says meat costs four times as much as cheese, so therefore x=4c

 

The problem asks you how much the cheese cost.  I have three equations and I want to solve for cheese (notice how I wrote the two equations above in terms of cheese)

 

m+c+x = 42

m=2c

x=4c

 

If you substitute m and x into the first equation, you get:

 

2c+c+4c=42

 

Solving for c, you get 7c=42, and c=6

 

So, the cost of cheese if 6 dollars