Hank purchased 7 pounds of oranges and 5 pounds of apples and it cost him $8.78 . His wife went to the store the next day and purchased for the same prices per pound a total of 3 pounds of oranges and 8 pounds of apples for a total of $8.39 What is the price per pound of oranges? What is the price per pound of apples?

Question

Hank purchased 7 pounds of oranges and 5 pounds of apples and it cost him $8.78 . His wife went to the store the next day and purchased for the same  prices per pound a total of 3 pounds of oranges and 8 pounds of apples for a total of $8.39 What is the price per pound of  oranges? What is the price per pound of apples?

whpalmer4 · Answer

let $x$ be the price of oranges per pound, and $y$ be the price of apples per pound.

7x + 5y = 878  Hank's purchase
3x + 8y = 839  wife's purchase

(I did the amounts in cents, to avoid decimals)

Solve the system of equations to find the price per pound of oranges (x, in cents), and the price per pound of apples (y, in cents)