Peggy had three times as many quarters as nickels. She had $1.60 in all. How many nickels and how many quarters did she have?

Answer 1

One way to solve this question would be to set up two equations. First, define your variables, let 'q' be equal to the number of quarters, let 'n' be equal to the number of nickels. You have two variables so you will need two equations.

Then, you need one equation for each piece of information in the problem. First, "She had three times as many quarters as nickels" which can be written as:

q=3n

Then, "she had 1.60 in all" which can be written as 25q + 5n = 160 (note I turned everything into cents for convenience).

Then, use substitution to solve:

q=3n

25(3n)+5n=160

80n=160

n=2

q=6

you can then check your answer to make sure it equals 1.60, which .25(6)+.05(2)=1.60