SEARCH HOME
 Math Central Quandaries & Queries
 Question from London, a student: Ms. Werenich has twice as many dimes as nickels and 4 more quarters than nickels. If she has $\$4.50,$how many of each coin does she have? What would the let statements be of this problem and can you solve it? Hi London, She has more dimes than nickels and more quarters than nickels so I would let$n$be the number of nickels she has and work from there. She has twice as many dimes as nickels so she has$2n$dimes. She has 4 more quarters than nickels so she has$n + 4$quarters. To complete the problem you need to consider the value of the coins she has. Since we are dealing with nickels, dimes and quarter I would convert the total amount she has to cents and say she has 450 cents. Each nickel is worth 5 cents so the amount she has in nickels is$5 \times n$cents. What is the amount she has in dimes? What is the amount she has in quarters? The total is 450 cents. Solve for$n.\$

Penny

Math Central is supported by the University of Regina and The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.