Inquisitivemind1

Question

Hello there and thanks in advance!

Wondering if for this kind of problem, if you don't know the number of coins, how might you solve it?

If, for example, you want to find all the combinations of dimes and quarters that can add up to $5.10, without the number of coins, how can I solve it?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You cannot solve it directly without knowing the number of coins exactly or some other relationship between the two types of coins etc.

However, there are many solutions based on the equation 25x + 10y = 510 (x = #quarters, y = #dimes)

So, any x that results in a positive whole number answer in y (or vice versa) is a valid answer if the total number of coins is not known!