Discussion Paper

Math 116 Algebra 1a wk 7 ch. 8

Topic: Systems of Equations
Refer to these examples:
Ex. 2: EXAMPLE 2 Blending Flower Seeds. Tara’s website, Garden Edibles, specializes
in the sale of herbs and flowers for colorful meals and garnishes. Tara
sells packets of nasturtium seeds for $0.95 each and packets of Johnny-jumpup
seeds for $1.43 each. She decides to offer a 16-packet spring-garden combination,
combining packets of both types of seeds at $1.10 per packet. How
many packets of each type of seed should be put in her garden mix?

|Let the garden mix have x packets of Nasturtium seeds and y packets of Johnny-jumpup seeds.                                                                 |
|Then, by data we have                                                                                                                                       |
|x + y = 16 ( y = 16 – x                                                                                                                                     |
|0.95x + 1.43y = 16(1.10)                                                                                                                                   |
|0.95x + 1.43(16 – x) = 17.6                                                                                                                                 |
|0.95x – 1.43x = 17.6 – 1.43(16)                                                                                                                             |
|-0.48x = -5.28                                                                                                                                             |
|x = -5.28/-0.48 = 11 packets (Nasturtium seeds) and y = 16 – 11 = 5 packets (Johnny-jumpup seeds)                                                           |



EXAMPLE 3 Student Loans. Jed’s student loans totaled $16,200. Part was
a Perkins loan made at 5% interest and the rest was a Stafford loan made at 4%
interest. After one... [continues]

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