Suppose that 12 inches of wire costs 36 cents.

At the same rate, how many inches of wire can be bought for 24 cents?

1 answer

To find out how many inches of wire can be bought for 24 cents, we can set up a proportion using the information given. Let's use x to represent the number of inches of wire that can be bought for 24 cents:

12 inches of wire costs 36 cents

x inches of wire costs 24 cents

Using the proportion:

12 inches/36 cents = x inches/24 cents

To solve for x, we can cross-multiply:

12 * 24 = 36 * x

288 = 36x

Dividing both sides by 36:

288/36 = x

x = 8

Therefore, for 24 cents, you can buy 8 inches of wire.