A merchant has coffee worth $20 a pound that she wishes to mix with 70 pounds of coffee worth $90 a pound to get a mixture that she will sell for $30 a pound. How many pounds (lb) of the $20 coffee should be used?

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aachen

Let us start with assuming the amount of coffee worth $20 a pound to be "x" pounds.

Now she wants to mix "x" pounds of $20 coffee with 70 pounds of $90 coffee.

So the mixture would be (x + 70) pounds.

And the value of mixture would be = 20·x + (90)·(70) = (20x + 6300) dollars.

She want to sell this mixture at rate of $30 a pound. Her earning would be = 30·(x + 70) = (30x + 2100) dollars.

We know that the value of mixture would be equal to her earnings.

30x + 2100 = 20x + 6300

30x - 20x = 6300 - 2100

10x = 4200

x = 420

So, 420 pounds of $20 coffee would be used.

The amount of [tex]\$\ 20[/tex] coffee is [tex]\boxed{\bf 420\text{\bf pounds}}[/tex].

Further explanation:

Given information:

A merchant has a pound of coffee of worth [tex]\$\ 20[/tex].  

That merchant wants to mix [tex]70\text{ pounds}[/tex] of coffee that worth [tex]\$\ 90[/tex] a pound with the coffee that’s worth is [tex]\$\ 20[/tex].

After that the merchant wants to sell that mixture for [tex]\$\ 30[/tex] a pound.

Calculation:

Let us consider the amount of [tex]\$\ 20[/tex] coffee be [tex]x[/tex] pounds.

The merchant wants to mix that [tex]x[/tex] pound of [tex]\$\ 20[/tex] coffee with [tex]70\text{ pounds}[/tex] of [tex]\$\ 90[/tex] coffee.

Therefore, the total mixture would be of [tex](x+70)[/tex] pounds.

Now, the total worth of the mixture of [tex]\$\ 20[/tex] coffee and [tex]\$\ 90[/tex] coffee is calculated as  follows:

[tex]\boxed{(20\cdot x)+(90\cdot 70)=20x+6300}[/tex]

The merchant wants to sell the total mixture for [tex]\$\ 30[/tex] a pound.

Therefore, the merchant’s earning would be [tex]30(x+70)[/tex] dollars.

The worth of the mixture would be equal to the total earnings.

Therefore, the amount [tex]x[/tex] of [tex]\$\ 20[/tex] coffee can be calculated as  follows:

[tex]\boxed{30(x+70)=20x+6300}[/tex]

 

Use distributive property to expand the Left-Hand Side of above equation as follows:

[tex]\begin{aligned}(30\cdot x)+(30\cdot 70)&=20x+6300\\30x+2100&=20x+6300\end{aligned}[/tex]

 

Simplify the above equation to find the value of [tex]x[/tex] as shown below:

[tex]\begin{aligned}30x-20x&=6300-2100\\10x&=4200\end{aligned}[/tex]  

Divide both sides by [tex]10[/tex] in above equation as  follows:

[tex]\begin{aligned}\dfrac{10x}{10}&=\dfrac{4200}{10}\\x&=420\end{aligned}[/tex]

Therefore, the value of [tex]x[/tex] is [tex]420[/tex].

Thus, the amount of [tex]\$\ 20[/tex] coffee is [tex]\boxed{\bf 420\text{\bf pounds}}[/tex].

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Answer details:

Grade: Middle school

Subject: Mathematics

Chapter: Linear equations

Keywords: Merchant, coffee, $20, $90, $30, pounds, 70 pounds, 420 pounds, x, mixture, sell, mix, equation, linear, amount, distributive property.