Problema Solution

Joy is an instructional assistant in one of the college labs. She is on a very tight budget. She loves Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, but it costs $11 a pound. She decides to blend this with regular coffee beans that costs $1.63 a pound. If she spends $14.25 on 2 pounds of coffee, how many pounds of each did she purchase?

Answer provided by our tutors

A total of $14.25 was spent:

  j*11 + r*1.63 = 14.25

A total of two pounds of coffee was used:

  j + r = 2

Solving for 'r' by eliminating 'j':

  j*11 + r*1.63 = 14.25

  j*11 + r*11 = 22

  11r - 1.63r = 22 - 14.25

  9.37r = 7.75

  r = 1.209

j = 2. - 1.209 = 0.791

So 1.209 pounds of regular coffee were mixed with

   0.791 pounds of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.