Suppose that 18 inches of wire costs 54 cents.

At the same rate, how many inches of wire can be bought for 39 cents?

1 answer

To find out how many inches of wire can be bought for 39 cents, we first need to determine the cost per inch of wire.

  1. Calculate the cost per inch: \[ \text{Cost per inch} = \frac{\text{Total cost}}{\text{Total inches}} = \frac{54 \text{ cents}}{18 \text{ inches}} = 3 \text{ cents per inch} \]

  2. Determine how many inches can be bought for 39 cents: To find out how many inches can be purchased for 39 cents, we divide the total amount of cents we want to spend by the cost per inch: \[ \text{Inches} = \frac{\text{Total amount}}{\text{Cost per inch}} = \frac{39 \text{ cents}}{3 \text{ cents per inch}} = 13 \text{ inches} \]

Thus, you can buy 13 inches of wire for 39 cents.