Becky has w nickels and y dimes . How many cents does she have ? Express the answer in terms of w and y .

Question

Its a question for 6th grade . So simple answer would do .

Answer 1

So, let's say I have 4 nickles and 8 dimes. How many cents do I have?

I have 5(4) = 20 cents plus10(8) = 80 cents, or 5(4) + 10(8) = 100 cents. Yes, that's one dollar, but the question is about cents.

Instead, we have w nickles and y cents. What does that look like? With variables, we use shorthand for multiplication and just say 5w + 10y.

Answer 2

Hi Ab J.,

If I have 3 nickles I multiply 3 nickles times 5 cents to get 15 cents,

or for 3 dimes I multiply 3 dimes*10 cents to get 30 cents.

So w nickles times 5 cents plus y dimes times 10 cents will equal the total cents,

Or w * 5 cents + y * 10 cents, expressed in terms of x and y as required.

If cents are expressed as decimal, .05 for 5 cents and .10 for ten cents then,

w * .05 + y * .10, or

.05w + .10y

I hope this helps, Joe.