Casper bought some pencils at $.50 each. He had $3 left after the purchase. If he wanted to buy the same number of note pads at $.80 each, he would be short $1.50. Write a linear equation for the number of pencils he purchased. Then solve it.

Answer 1

.50p+3 = .80p-1.50
.3p = 4.50
p = 15

so, 15 pencils cost $7.50, meaning he started out with $10.50
15 notepads cost $12.00, so he'd be $1.50 short.