Question

A garden supply store sells two types of lawn mowers. The smaller mower costs $249.99 and the larger mower costs $329.99. If 30 total mowers were sold and the total sales for a given year was $8379.70, find how many of each type were sold.

Answer 1

19 small mowers and 11 large mowers are sold

Solution:

Let "a" be the number of small mowers sold

Let "b" be the number of large mowers sold

Cost of each small mower = $ 249.99

Cost of each large mower = $ 329.99

30 total mowers were sold

Therefore,

a + b = 30

a = 30 - b ------------- eqn 1

The total sales for a given year was $8379.70

Thus we frame a equation as:

number of small mowers sold x Cost of each small mower + number of large mowers sold x Cost of each large mower = 8379.70

$a \times 249.99 + b \times 329.99 = 8379.70$

249.99a + 329.99b = 8379.70 ---------- eqn 2

Let us solve eqn 1 and eqn 2

Substitute eqn 1 in eqn 2

249.99(30 - b) + 329.99b = 8379.70

7499.7 - 249.99b + 329.99b = 8379.70

80b = 8379.70 - 7499.7

80b = 880

Divide both sides by 80

b = 11

Substitute b = 11 in eqn 1

a = 30 - 11

a = 19

Thus 19 small mowers and 11 large mowers are sold