Question

During the first hour of operation the farm stand owner sold 15% of the apples he had. On the second hour he sold 20% of the remaining apples. On the third hour he sold 25% of the remaining apples, and so on, selling 5% more each following hour. If during the third hour he sold 34 kg of apples, how many kilograms of apples did he have initially?

Answer 1

Answer:

Initially he had 200 kg of apples.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let x kg be the amount of apples the farm stand initially had.

During the first hour of operation the farm stand owner sold 15% of the apples he had, then he sold $0.15x$ kg of apples and $x-0.15x=0.85x$ kg of apples left.

On the second hour he sold 20% of the remaining apples, then he sold $0.20\cdot 0.85x=0.17x$ kg of apples and $0.85x-0.17x=0.68x$ kg of apples left.

On the third hour he sold 25% of the remaining apples, then during the third hour he sold $0.25\cdot 0.68x=0.17x$ kg of apples.

If during the third hour he sold 34 kg of apples, then $0.17x=34\Rightarrow x=\dfrac{34}{0.17}=200\ kg.$