Problema Solution
A bottle and a cup exactly balance a coffeepot. The bottle balances a cup and saucer. Three saucers can be used to balance two coffeepots. How many cups will it take to balance a bottle?
Answer provided by our tutors
bottle + cup = coffeepot
bottle = cup + saucer
3 saucers = 2 coffeepots divide both sides by 3
saucer = (2/3) coffeepots
plug coffeepot = bottle + cup into the last equation
saucer = (2/3) (bottle + cup)
plug saucer = (2/3) (bottle + cup) into bottle = cup + saucer
bottle = cup + (2/3) (bottle + cup)
bottle - (2/3) bottles = cup + (2/3)cups
(1/3) bottles = (5/3) cups multiply both sides by 3
1 bottle = 5 cups
it takes 5 cups to balance a bottle.