With algebra this is straightforward. However, this is for secondary level.

Wait for my next post.

Pear 70c
Apple 40c

Sally bought pears ONLY
Tom bought apples ONLY

Sally spent $1.10 more than Tom, but has 7 fruits fewer than Tom.

The idea is to make the number of fruits bought “the same”.

Let’s pretend Sally bought 7 more fruits i.e. 7 more pears.

The extra pears would have cost Sally a further $4.90. This makes Sally spend $6 more than Tom for an equal number of fruits.

Each pear is 30c more expensive than each apple. But a certain number of pears is $6 i.e. 600c more than the same number of apples.

This number is

600/30 = 20

So Sally would have bought 20 pears in this instance, but this assumes Sally had bought 7 more pears.

Sally bought 13 pears.

As for Tom, he bought 20 apples, with a total monetary value of $8 since each Apple costs 40c.

Pls use alegbra. Tks

Mandy, your school teach algebra?

You can also argue on a different story that Tom buys 7 less apples than before.

If Tom buys 7 less apples than now, he would have spent $2.80 less than before.

As a result, he would have spent $3.90 less than Sally.

The price difference between one pear and one Apple is 30c, while the price difference between a number of pears and the same number of apples is $3.90 i.e. 390 cents, so this number is

390/30 = 13

So Tom would have bought 13 apples because of the 7 Apple reduction.

Sally bought 13 pears.

Tom actually bought 20 apples, with a numerical cost of $8 as before.

With algebra it goes like this. Be warned, however, that you may not understand what is going on unless you know basic mathematical operations (brackets come first, then times and divide, then add and subtract).

Let the number of fruits Sally bought be x. All these comprise pears only.

Since Tom buys 7 more fruits than Sally, Tom buys (x + 7) fruits. All these comprise apples only.

(Note that x is a mystery number to be found, so we can only write x + 7 to denote a number which is 7 more than x)

Since the cost of 1 pear is 70c, the cost of x pears is the product of these two numbers,

70x cents.

Since the cost of 1 Apple is 40c, the cost of (x + 7) apples is the product of these two numbers,

40 times (x + 7)
= 40 times x + 40 times 7
= (40x + 280) cents.

Since Sally paid $1.10 more than Tom,

Sally’s spending - Tom’s spending = 110 cents,

70x - (40x + 280) = 110
70x - 40x - 280 = 110
(be careful of the plus and minus signs as you expand out the brackets)
30x - 280 = 110
(like terms combine together)

Adding 280 to both sides,

30x - 280 + 280 = 110 + 280
30x = 390
(again, like terms combine together)

Dividing both sides by 30,
30x / 30 = 390 / 30
x = 13

So sally bought 13 pears.

Tom bought (x + 7) = 13 + 7 (since x = 13) = 20 apples.

Cost of Tom’s apples is 20 x 0.40 = 800 cents = $8.

Eric, good explanation and write up always!