Question

Betty had $40 in her pocket. She bought 12 identical bags of popcorn. Betty was left with $10 after buying the popcorn. What was the price, in dollars, of each bag of popcorn?
0.55
2.50
4.17
5.20

Answer 1

$40-$10=$30, so Betty spent $30 on the 12 packets of popcorn. This means that we need to share the $30 by 12 to find out how much each packet had cost. $30÷12=$2.50. Therefore, your answer is $2.50.

Answer 2

Set up the equation:

$40 - 12x = 10$

40 represents the money Betty had initially. 12 is the coefficient for x, and represents how many bags of popcorn Betty bought. x represents the cost of a single bag of popcorn. 10 is the money Betty is left with.

Subtract 40 from both sides:

$-12x = -30$

Divide both sides by -12 to get x by itself:
$x = 2.5$

The cost of a single bag of popcorn is $2.50.