At the market, bananas cost $3 for a bunch. You spend $10 and also bought some potatoes. How much did you spend on potatoes? Explain a strategy you could use to solve this problem.

Answer 1

To find out how much you spent on potatoes, we first need to determine how much of your total spending went toward the bananas.

Steps to Solve the Problem:

1. Calculate the Cost of Bananas:

   • Bananas cost $3 per bunch.
   • If you spent $10 in total, we first decide how many bunches of bananas you could afford.
   • The maximum number of bunches you can buy with $10 at $3 per bunch is given by: \[ \text{Number of bunches} = \frac{\text{Total money}}{\text{Cost per bunch}} = \frac{10}{3} \approx 3.33 \]
   • Since you can't buy a fraction of a bunch, you can buy a maximum of 3 bunches.

2. Calculate the Total Cost for Bananas:

   • If you buy 3 bunches, the total cost for the bananas would be: \[ \text{Cost of 3 bunches} = 3 \times 3 = 9 \]

3. Calculate the Remaining Money:

   • Now, subtract the total cost of bananas from your total spending: \[ \text{Money spent on potatoes} = \text{Total spending} - \text{Cost of bananas} = 10 - 9 = 1 \]

Conclusion:

You spent $1 on potatoes.

Strategy Explained:

• Your strategy to solve this problem involves breaking down the total expenditure into manageable parts: first calculating how much you could afford to spend on the bananas based on their price, then determining how much of your total budget remains for other items (in this case, potatoes). This method uses arithmetic operations to systematically approach the problem and ensures that all parts of the expenditure are accounted for.