Tom is buying 3 pens for m dollars and 4 notebooks for n dollars. Write a mathematical expression for the amount he is spending.

Question

hartnn · Answer

The amount he is spending in dollars is the sum of what he spends in pens and notebooks.
As he spends m for pens and n for notebook, what is their sum ?

parthkohli · Answer

Hint: the amount he spends on object X is the quantity of object X which he is buying times the price of one object X.

paxpolaris · Answer

is it m dollars for 3 pens .... or for each pen???

hartnn · Answer

tom is buying 3 pens for m dollars, he is not buying 3 pens for m dollars each....

parthkohli · Answer

I suppose that m is for each pen.

anonymous · Answer

3m + 4n would that be it?

paxpolaris · Answer

yes, if m is cost of EACH pen, and n is cost of EACH notebook.

paxpolaris · Answer

the way the question is worded right now:
    .... it seems like he is just spending $\large m+n$ dollars