Question

Mere, Sam and Nathan go to a bookshop to buy supplies for their school. Mere bought two erasers and four pencils and paid $2.40 for it. Sam bought six erasers, one pencil and two pens and paid $3.95 while Nathan paid $4.15 for an eraser, a pencil and four pens. Write a system of equations that can be used to find the cost of each item.Use the inverse matrix method to solve the system of equations.
[Hint: use Gauss Jordan elimination]

Answer 1

If there are e erasers, p pencils, and q pens, we have

2e+4p = 240
6e+p+2q = 395
e+p+4q = 415

If A is the matrix of coefficients, then A^-1 =
1/84
(-2 16 -8)
(22 -8 4)
(-5 -2 22)

Then you have
(e p q) = (30 45 85)

See here:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=inverse+%7B%7B2,4,0%7D,%7B6,1,2%7D,%7B1,1,4%7D%7D

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%7B%7B2,4,0%7D,%7B6,1,2%7D,%7B1,1,4%7D%7D*%7B%7Bx%7D,%7By%7D,%7Bz%7D%7D+%3D+%7B%7B240%7D,%7B395%7D,%7B415%7D%7D

Answer 2

cost of pencil --- p
cost of eraser --- e
cost of pen ----- x

2e + 4p = 2.4 (1)
6e + p + 2x = 3.95 (2)
e + p + 4x = 4.15 (3)

I would not use a matrix method, the equations are much too "nice".

from (1) : e = 1.2 - 2p
sub into (2)
6(1.2 - 2p) + p + 2x = 3.95
-11p + 2x = -3.25
2x = 11p - 3.25
4x = 22p - 6.5

now sub those into (3)
e + p + 4x = 4.15
1.2 - 2p + p + 22p - 6.5 = 4.15
21p = 9.45
p = .45
e = 1.2 - 2p = .30
x = 13.60

You can confirm my answer with this Gauss-Jordan applet
http://www.gregthatcher.com/Mathematics/GaussJordan.aspx

Answer 3

Looks like I messed up for my x
I multiplied 4x by 4 instead of dividing by 4

4x = 3.4
x = .85

see Steve's solution

Answer 4

DEAR SIR I NEED THE ANSWER OF THIS QUESTION PLEASE.Mere, Sam and Nathan go to a bookshop to buy supplies for their school. Mere bought
two erasers and four pencils and paid $2.40 for it. Sam bought six erasers, one pencil and
two pens and paid $3.95 while Nathan paid $4.15 for an eraser, a pencil and four pens.
a) Write a system of equations that can be used to find the cost of each item.
b) Use an appropriate method to solve the system of equations