Use proportional relationship to solve this mixture problem. Wendell is making a fruit salad consisting of melon and strawberry. Melon costs $0.45 per pound and strawberries cost $1.65 per pound. He wants his fruit salad to contain 4 times as much melon as strawberries. If Wendell has $10.50 how many whole pounds of melon and how many whole pounds of strawberries should he buy for his fruit salad?
A. Wendell should buy 8 pounds of melon and 2 pounds of strawberries
B. Wendell should buy 12 pounds of melon and 3 pounds of strawberries
C. Wendell should buy 1.8 pounds of melon and 1.65 pounds of strawberries
D. Wendell should buy 4 pounds of melon and 1 pound of strawberries
Let's say Wendell buys x pounds of strawberries. According to the given information, he wants his fruit salad to contain 4 times as much melons as strawberries. Therefore, he should buy 4x pounds of melon.
The cost of melons per pound is $0.45, so the total cost of the melons is 4x * $0.45 = $1.8x
The cost of strawberries per pound is $1.65, so the total cost of the strawberries is x * $1.65 = $1.65x
The total cost of the fruit salad is $1.8x + $1.65x = $3.45x
Since Wendell has $10.50, we can set up the equation:
$3.45x = $10.50
Solving for x, we find that x ≈ 3.04, or approximately 3. Therefore, he should buy 3 pounds of strawberries.
Since he wants 4 times as much melon as strawberries, he should buy 4 * 3 = 12 pounds of melon.
Therefore, Wendell should buy 12 pounds of melon and 3 pounds of strawberries, so the correct answer is option B.