To find out how many pounds of peanuts Donald buys, we can set up the equation based on the cost of the peanuts:
Let \( x \) be the number of pounds of peanuts Donald buys. The cost of the peanuts is given by:
\[ \text{Total Cost} = \text{Cost per pound} \times \text{Number of pounds} \]
In this case, we can write the equation as:
\[ 2.49x = 17.43 \]
Now, we can solve for \( x \):
\[ x = \frac{17.43}{2.49} \]
Calculating that gives:
\[ x \approx 7 \]
So, Donald buys approximately \( 7 \) pounds of peanuts.
To summarize: The equation that needs to be solved is \( 2.49x = 17.43 \). Donald buys \( 7 \) lb of peanuts.