Tunde bought 49 pets at a pet shop. If a lizard is five times as expensive as a hamster, how many hamsters did he buy?

Question

He spent 1/2 as much money on hamsters as he did on lizards.

Answer 1

X is the price of the hamster

L is the number of lizards

H is the number of hamsters 

 

L + H = 49

 

the cost of the lizard is 5 times the hamster.

so the lizard costs 5x

 

 cost of the lizards is twice the cost of the hamsters

 

          L(5x) = 2(hx)

 

           5l = 2h <--- divides both sides by x

 

          (5/2)L = h

 

 

 L + (5/2)L = 49

 

2L + 5L = 98

7L = 98

L = 14

 

14 lizards, 35 hamsters