Question

Clem Colfax had $10 to buy groceries. He needed milk costing 70 cents a carton, bread costing 60 cents a loaf, breakfast cereal costing 50 cents a box, and meat costing $1.50 a pound. He bought twice as many cartons of milk as he did loaves of bread, the number of boxes of cereal was one more than the number of loaves of bread, and the number of pounds of meat was the same as the number of boxes of cereal. How many of each did he buy if the total he spent was exactly $10?

Answer 1

Cost of milk per carton = $ 70 cents = 70/100 = $0.7
Cost of bread per loaf = $60 cents = 60/100 = $0.6
Cost of cereals per box = $50 cents = 50/100 = $0.5
Cost of meat per pound = $1.50

If x is the number of cartons of milk bought, then
Number of loafs = x/2
Number pf boxes of cereals = x/2 +1
Number of pounds of meat = x/2 +1

Therefore,
0.7*x + 0.6*x/2 + 0.5 (x/2+1) + 1.5 (x/2+1) = 10
0.7x + 0.3x + 0.25x + 0.5 + 0.75x + 1.5 = 10
2x + 2 =10
2x = 8
x = 4

Substituting;
Milk cartons = 4
Number of bread = 4/2 = 2
Boxes of cereals = 2+1 = 3
Pounds of meat = 3