Isabella buys milk and potatoes at the store.

Question

She pays a total of $21.40.
She pays a total of $3.73 for the milk.
She buys 3 bags of potatoes that each cost the same amount.

Write and solve an equation which can be used to determine x, how much each bag of potatoes costs.

Answer 1

To find out how much each bag of potatoes costs, let's first define the variables involved in the problem.

Let \( x \) represent the cost of one bag of potatoes.

Isabella buys 3 bags of potatoes, so the total cost for the potatoes would be \( 3x \).

According to the problem, she pays a total of $21.40 for both the milk and the potatoes. She pays $3.73 for the milk.

The equation to represent this situation is:

\[ 3x + 3.73 = 21.40 \]

Now, we can solve for \( x \):

1. Subtract the cost of the milk from the total: \[ 3x = 21.40 - 3.73 \] \[ 3x = 17.67 \]

2. Divide both sides by 3 to find the cost of one bag of potatoes: \[ x = \frac{17.67}{3} \] \[ x = 5.89 \]

Thus, each bag of potatoes costs $5.89.