Mrs. Davis went to a produce market to buy bananas and strawberries. She spent $8.00. If the bananas were $0.50 per pound, and the strawberries were 4 times that much, how many pounds of bananas did she buy if she bought 7 pounds of fruit altogether?

Mrs. Davis spent $8.00 on 7 pounds of fruit, with bananas at $0.50 per pound and strawberries costing 4 times that amount. By setting up an equation and solving for the number of pounds of bananas, we find that she bought 4 pounds of bananas.

Explanation:

How many pounds of bananas did Mrs. Davis buy?

Mrs. Davis spent $8.00 on bananas and strawberries at the produce market. We know that bananas cost $0.50 per pound and strawberries cost 4 times as much, which would be $2.00 per pound. Altogether, she bought 7 pounds of fruit. To find out how many pounds of bananas she bought, we'll let x represent the number of pounds of bananas and 7-x represent the number of pounds of strawberries.

The total cost can be represented as 0.50x for bananas and 2.00(7-x) for strawberries. If we set up the equation 0.50x + 2.00(7-x) = $8.00 and solve for x, we can determine the pounds of bananas she purchased.

First, distribute the 2.00 across the strawberries equation: 0.50x + 14 - 2x = 8.

Combine like terms to get: -1.5x + 14 = 8.

Subtract 14 from each side to isolate the term with x: -1.5x = -6.

Finally, divide both sides by -1.5 to solve for x: x = 4.

Therefore, Mrs. Davis bought 4 pounds of bananas and 3 pounds of strawberries (7 - 4 = 3).

sqdancefan sqdancefan · Answer 2 · 2024-05-09T13:39:14-04:00

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Answer:

4 pounds

Step-by-step explanation:

Let b represent the pounds of bananas Mrs. Davis bought. The weight of strawberries would be (7-b) and their cost would be 4×0.50 = 2.00 per pound. Her total purchase was ...

0.50b + 2.00(7 -b) = 8.00

-1.50b +14 = 8 . . . . simplify

6 = 1.50b . . . . . . add 1.50b -8

4 = b . . . . . . . . divide by 1.50

Mrs. Davis bought 4 pounds of bananas.