Hello! I have a question about a word problem:

A garden supply store sells two types of lawn mowers. The cashiers kept a tally chart for the total number of mowers sold. They tallied 30 mowers sold. Total sales of mowers for the year were $8379.70. The small mowers cost $249.99 and the large mowers cost $329.99. Find the number of each type of mower sold.

Thanks! :)

so what's the question? Just put the words into symbols.

If there are b big, then there are 30-b small mowers.

329.99b + 249.99(30-b) = 8379.70
Now just solve for b, resulting in
b=11

So, there were 11 big mowers sold.
I'm assuming you can now figure out how many small mowers were sold...

@Steve, I got 11 small mowers and 19 large mowers? Is this right?

well, add up the value of each type. Does it add up to $8379.70?

Actually, it does! Thanks so much!

Wait would you plug in the 11 and 19 in for the missing b? Because when I did, I got a different number?

that was not very kind way to explain that. Beka, what they so rudely tried to explain was, yes you are correct in replacing them, but you may have put the wrong rice in for wrong quantity. I understand this is way past the date posted but it is what it is.

Yes. You apparently are careless with your details, since I clearly said that there were 11 big mowers, so 19 small mowers.

Then, when checking the answer, you switched the big and small quantities.