Question

Nina has some nickels and 9 pennies in her pocket. Her friend, Maurice has twice as many nickels as Nina. Together these coins are worth 84 cents. how mant nickels does Nina have? Let N = the amount of nickels Nina has

Answer 1

So Maurice would have 2N nickels  

Total number of coins is N + 2N + 9 = 3N + 9  

Each nickel is 5 pennies  

3N of nickels = 15N pennies  

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Their worth is 84 cents  

15N + 9 = 84  

15N = 75  

N = 75/15 = 5  

N = 5  

This means Nina has 5 nickels.