Problema Solution

Rachel can buy licorice sticks for $0.75 and cherry candies for $0.50 and has a budget of $25. If her expenses are represented by the equation 0.75x + 0.5y = 25, where x is the number of licorice sticks and y is the number of cherry candies, how many cherry candies can she buy if she wishes to spend the entire $25 on cherry candies? (Note: x ≥ 0, y ≥ 0, and x and y take only integer values.

Answer provided by our tutors

0.75x + 0.5y = 25


by solving for y we get:


y = 50 - (3/2)x


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since y is an integer and y > 0 we have:


x is an even number and


50 - (3/2)x >= 0


that is:


x <= 33.3


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thus x can be an element of the set {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, ..., 32}


in that case the possible values for y are the elements of the set {2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50}


she can buy one of the following numbers of cherry candies: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47 or 50.