In winter the prices of apples suddenly went up by 0.75 per pound. Sam bought 3 pounds of apples at the new price for a total of 5.88.

Question

What is the new price of apples? What was the old price?

Answer 1

We start with the information in the problem we are given.

1. price increase (add) 0.75 per pound
2. amount bought 3 pounds
3. total price $5.88
4. original price = x

Now let's set up the equation:

Sam bought 3 pounds of apples at the increased price for a total of $5.88.

3(x+0.75) = 5.88 Distribute the 3

3x + 2.25 = 5.88 Subtract 2.25 from both sides. We are subtracting because we want to isolate our variable and since we are adding on the side of the variable we will perform the inverse which is subtracting.

3x +2.25 - 2.25 = 5.88 - 2.25

3x = 3.36 Divide both sides by 3. We are dividing because it is the inverse or opposite of multiplication, which is what 3x is telling us to do.

3x/3 = 3.36/3

x = $1.21 Now x is our original price not our new price we have to add 0.75 to the old price

new = $1.96 You can check your answers by multiplying $1.96 by 3 which equals $5.88 (this was the total amount spent.

I hope this helps!