Christie has a total of 15 pieces of fruit, all bananas and apples, worth $1.59. Bananas are 13 cents each and apples are 7 cents each. How many bananas and how many apples does she have?

Question

nurali · Answer

Let 'a' be the amount of apples she has and 'b' the number of bananas.

a + b = 15 <----------------- She has 15 pieces of fruit total.
.07a + .13b = 1.59 <----- The fruit cost $1.59 total.

The first equation can be rewritten b = 15 - a. Now substitute that into the second equation.

.07a + .13(15 - a) = 1.59
.07a + 1.95 - .13a = 1.59
-.06a + 1.95 = 1.59
-.06a = -.36
a = -.36 / -.06
a = 6

Now plugging that back into the first equation: b = 15 - 6 = 9.