Math Is Fun Forum

Mary kay <3s math

Member

Registered: 2007-03-13

Posts: 1

i am very confused

okay i hav an algrbra 1 question. i hav tryed to solve it but i dont know wut i did rong

question: julie has 19 nickels and quarters with a value of $3.15. how many nickels does she have?

when i solved it i keep comeing up with a decimal. and i dont think i am suppose to round because you cant hav a decimal of a nickel so yah

ohh and if u want me 2 show my work so u can help i will i just didnt no if i was allowed to or not

Mary kay <3s math

Member

Registered: 2007-03-13

Posts: 1

Re: i am very confused

i just got it thx anyway

mathsyperson

Moderator

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 4,900

Re: i am very confused

Welcome to the forum, Mary Kay.

Don't worry, I figure out problems just after I ask for help in them as well. It's really annoying. Still, well done for figuring it out on your own. I might as well tell you what I got so you can check your answer and this topic will have some use.
Julie should have 11 quarters and 8 nickels.

Although you could just make two simultaneous equations for this question, I find it easier to assume that she has all nickels and then work out how many she would have to exchange for quarters to get the right amount.

So, 19 nickels would give her $0.95, which is $2.20 short of her target. Exhanging a nickel for a quarter adds $0.20 to her amount, which means that she needs to do that 11 times. Therefore, she has 11 quarters and then the number of nickels left is easy to work out.

---

Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.