Willy bought 15 pears and Jack bought 18 oranges. They spent the same amount of money. The difference in cost between a pear and an orange was $0.10. How much did Willy spend on the 15 pears?
To find out how much Willy spent on the 15 pears, we need to do a bit of algebra. Let's say the cost of one pear is "p" dollars and the cost of one orange is "o" dollars.
We know that Willy bought 15 pears, so the total cost for the pears can be calculated by multiplying the cost of one pear (p) by the number of pears (15). Therefore, the cost of 15 pears is 15p dollars.
Similarly, we know that Jack bought 18 oranges, so the total cost for the oranges can be calculated by multiplying the cost of one orange (o) by the number of oranges (18). Therefore, the cost of 18 oranges is 18o dollars.
Now, we are given that both Willy and Jack spent the same amount of money, so the total cost of the pears (15p dollars) must be equal to the total cost of the oranges (18o dollars).
Therefore, we can write the equation: 15p = 18o
We are also given that the difference in cost between a pear and an orange is $0.10. This means that the cost of one pear (p) is $0.10 more than the cost of one orange (o). So we can write another equation: p = o + $0.10
Now we can solve these two equations simultaneously to find the values of p and o.
Substituting the value of p from the second equation into the first equation, we get:
15(o + $0.10) = 18o
Expanding the equation:
15o + 1.50 = 18o
Rearranging the equation:
3o = 1.50
Dividing both sides by 3:
o = $0.50
Now that we know the cost of one orange is $0.50, we can substitute this value back into the second equation to find the cost of one pear:
p = $0.50 + $0.10 = $0.60
Finally, we can calculate the total amount Willy spent on the 15 pears by multiplying the cost of one pear (p) by the number of pears (15):
Total cost = 15p = 15 * $0.60 = $9.00
Therefore, Willy spent $9.00 on the 15 pears.