Joanne C. answered 05/20/23
Enthusiastic Math and Science Tutor with over 20+ years of experience
HI. I think this question was posted twice.. Here's the answer from the other posting
A man orders 3 times as many boxes of Ballpoint pens as boxes of felt-tip pens. Ballpoint pens cost $ 4.43 per box and felt-tip pens cost $3.45. If the man's order of pens totaled $ 83.70 . How many boxes of each type of pen did he buy. ?
With word problems, it helps to write down the information given.
There are 3 times as many boxes of ballpoint pens as boxes of felt-tip pens
Ballpoints pens cost $4.43 per box
Felt-tip pens cost $3.45 per box
Total order was $83.70
We are asked to find the number of boxes of each type of pen.
Lets start by assigning variables
Let B= number of boxes of ballpoint pens
Let F= number of boxes of felt-tip pens.
Then number of ballpoint pens is 3x the number of Felt pens
B = 3F
The total cost would be The number of ballpoint pens times the cost per box, plus the number of felt-tip pens times the cost per box
B(4.43) + F(3.45)= 83.70
3F(4.43) + F(3.45) = 83.70 (Substituted 3F for B)
13.29F + 3.45F = 83.70
16.74F=83.70
F=5
B=3(F)
B=3(5)
B=15
There were 5 Felt-Tip Boxes and 15 Ballpoint boxes.
Now we can check to make sure we calculated this correctly.
B(4.43) + F(3.45)= 83.70
15(4.43) + 5(3.45) ?= 83.70
83.70 ?= 83.70 It checks out so we solved it correctly.
Math word problems are really about learning how to translate the words into equations. I love word problems. Let me know if you need more help.
:)