What are 8 coins you could use to get to 87 cents

Answer 1

all this takes is a bit of trial and error
you clearly need either
2 pennies or 7 pennies.
7 pennies is out, since there is no coin worth 80 cents
so, now you have
pp + 6 coins making 85 cents
qqq = 75¢, leaving 5 coins for the other 10¢ -- nope

ppqq = 52¢, leaving 4 coins for 35¢
looks like
ppndddqq