Question

sally buys 5 shirts on sale for $20 each. She also buys 5 pairs of shorts that all have the same price. The total cost for clothes is $185. How much did each pair of shorts cost?

Answer 1

What part of this problem is getting you stuck?

Answer 2

the whole thing

Answer 3

Ok.

So let's start at the beginning.

How much does one shirt cost?

Answer 4

20

Answer 5

How much do two shirts cost?

Answer 6

40

Answer 7

Yup.

How much does ...

3 shirts =
4 shirts =
5 shirts =

(believe me, I'm going somewhere with this!)

Answer 8

60 80 100?

Answer 9

Yes, yes, and yes. :)

Answer 10

OK so this is what you figured out so far...

the 5 shirts cost 100 dollars.

Answer 11

Now, if the TOTAL money spent is 185 dollars....

how much of that was spent on SHORTS only?
(remember, the SHIRTS cost 100 dollars)

Answer 12

85

Answer 13

Yup!

So 85 dollars on JUST the shorts.

But she bought FIVE pairs of shorts...

So 85 divided by 5 = ....

Answer 14

17?

Answer 15

Yay! :D

Answer 16

total cost of shirts = 5*20=100$
total cost of shorts=5*x=5x$
A/q,
100$+5x$=185$
5x$=185$-100$
5x=85$
x=85/5=17

Answer 17

so the shorts cost $17 each?

Answer 18

Yes, you got it @ashleymariel and you did it on your own. :)

Answer 19

thank you very much (: @mathteacher1729

Answer 20

You're welcome. :) You can use the same thing we did here for similar problems. Break it down into little bits instead of trying to do everything at once.