A health food store makes trail mix using dried fruit and nuts. The cost of the dried fruit is $2.50 per pound, and the cost of the nuts is $2.00 per pound. The total cost to make the trail mix is $225. If the total cost can be represented by the equation 2.5x + 2y = 225, what does the term 2.5 represent?

Answer 1

In the equation \(2.5x + 2y = 225\), the term \(2.5\) represents the cost per pound of the dried fruit. Here, \(x\) denotes the number of pounds of dried fruit used in the trail mix, and thus \(2.5x\) calculates the total cost of the dried fruit in terms of pounds.