Question

Blaine is on vacation in New York City and wants to collect magnets of places he visits to give to all his friends. The Times Square magnets cost $2 each and come in sets of 4. The Statue of Liberty magnets cost $3 each and come in sets of 5. If Blaine buys 12 sets of each type of magnet, how much will he pay?

Answer 1

For Times Square magnets, we have that the price of each magnet is 2 dollars / magnet, there are 4 magnets / set, and Tom buys 12 sets. For Statue of Liberty magnets, the price is 3 dollars / magnet, there are 5 magnets / set, and Tom buys 12 sets

We can make a table of these values:

Magnets          Price ($$/magnets)        Set Size (magnets/set)         Quantity (sets)

T.S.                2                                  4                                        12

S. of L.           3                                  5                                        12

Now, we can use the formula

Total Cost = Number of Magnets Bought * Price = (Quantity * Set Size) * Price

So we see that

Cost of T.S. magnets = Quantity * Set Size * Price

                              = 12 sets * 4 magnets * 2 dollars = $96

                                                      set          magnet

Cost of S. of L. magnets = Quantity * Set Size * Price

                                  = 12 sets * 5 magnets * 3 dollars = $180

                                                          set          magnet

So the total amount spent was $96 + $180 = $276.