A baker needs between 40lb and 50lb of flour-sugar mixture that contains ten timesas much flour as sugar. What are the possible weights of flour the baker can use?

Question

anonymous · Answer

just transform these words into variable
between equals 40>and 50<
sugar equals S and flour equals F (has the same weight) 
F = x
S= x
$$50>10(x+x) > 40 $$
and solve it

phi · Answer

ten times as much flour as sugar

that means you have lots more flour than sugar.
if you have S lbs of sugar, you will have 10*S  or 10 S   pounds of flour
all together you would have  10 S pounds of flour and S lbs of sugar, or 
10 S + S pounds total  (which adds up to a number between 40 and 50)
11 S  pounds

I would look for a number so that 11 divides evenly into it.  Example: 44 pounds
11 S = 44
S= 4 pounds

that is how much sugar you have.  How much flour would you have ?

anonymous · Answer

i thought of it like that, but i wasn't sure what is that exact means and i get it 10 to be easily cancelled with 50 and 40 :P

phi · Answer

You really want to divide by 11 (see the above post)
if you expect an integer solution.

For example,  if we pick a number between 40 and 50 that can be evenly divided by 11, we would pick 44.
the amount of sugar would be 44/11 = 4 pounds
the amount of flour would be 10 times more,  i.e. 10*4= 40
and notice
40 pounds of flour + 4 pounds of sugar = 44 pounds of flour and sugar

anonymous · Answer

OK thanks