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 $18 a pound. She decides to blend this with regular coffee beans that costs $2.09 a pound. If she spends $14.25 on 3 pounds of coffee, how many pounds of each did she purchase?

Answer provided by our tutors

A total of $14.25 was spent:

j*18 + r*2.09 = 14.25

A total of two pounds of coffee was used:

j + r = 3

Solving for 'r' by eliminating 'j':

j*18 + r*2.09 = 14.25

j*18 + r*18 = 54

18r - 2.09r = 54 - 14.25

15.91r = 39.75

r =~ 2.5

j = 3. - 2.5 = 0.5

So approximately,

2.5 pounds of regular coffee were mixed with

0.5 pounds of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.