Use proportional relationships 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 12 pounds of melon and 3 pounds of strawberries.
B. Wendell should buy 4 pounds of melon and 1 pound of strawberries.
C. Wendell should buy 1.8 pounds of melon and 1.65 pounds of strawberries.
D. Wendell should buy 8 pounds of melon and 2 pounds of strawberries.
To solve this problem, we can set up a proportion using the cost of melon and strawberries. Let's call the number of pounds of melon x and the number of pounds of strawberries y.
The cost of melon is $0.45 per pound, so the cost of x pounds of melon is 0.45x dollars.
The cost of strawberries is $1.65 per pound, so the cost of y pounds of strawberries is 1.65y dollars.
Since Wendell has $10.50, we can set up the equation:
0.45x + 1.65y = 10.50
We also know that Wendell wants his fruit salad to contain 4 times as much melon as strawberries. This can be written as the equation:
x = 4y
Now we have a system of two equations. We can use substitution to solve for x and y.
Substitute x = 4y into the first equation:
0.45(4y) + 1.65y = 10.50
1.8y + 1.65y = 10.50
3.45y = 10.50
y = 3
Substitute y = 3 back into x = 4y:
x = 4(3)
x = 12
So Wendell should buy 12 pounds of melon and 3 pounds of strawberries.
Therefore, the answer is A. Wendell should buy 12 pounds of melon and 3 pounds of strawberries.