Question

At the start of the day, the ratio of the number of apples to the number of pears that a fruit seller had was 3:1. For every 2 pears sold, 5 apples were sold. There were 13 apples and no pears left at the end of the day. Find the number of each type of fruit at the start of the day.

Answer 1

at start:

appes ---- 3x
pears ---- x

apples sold = 5y
pears sold = 2y

3x-5y=13
x-2y=0 or x = 2y
sub x = 2y into 3x-5y=13
6y - 5y = 13
y = 13 , then x = 26

so at the start:
apples ---- 78
pears ----- 13