George purchases a sack of apples, a bunch of bananas, a cantaloupe, and a carton of dates for $20. If a carton of dates costs twice as much as a sack of apples and the price of a cantaloupe is equal to the price of a sack of apples minus a bunch of bananas, how much would it cost George to purchase a bunch of bananas and a cantaloupe?

9514 1404 393

  $5

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the variables A, B, C, D represent a sack of apples, a bunch of bananas, a cantaloupe, and a carton of dates, respectively. Then the problem statement gives rise to 3 equations:

  A +B +C +D = 20

  D = 2A

  C = A -B

Substituting the last two equations into the first gives ...

  A +B + (A -B) +2A = 20

  4A = 20 . . . simplify

  A = 5 . . . . . divide by 4

Substituting this into the last equation, we have ...

  C = 5 -B

  B + C = 5 . . . . add B

The cost to purchase a bunch of bananas and a cantaloupe is $5.

in problems involving proportions, we can use cross products to test whether two ratios are equal and form a proportion. to find the cross products of a proportion, we multiply the outer terms, called the extremes, and the middle terms, called the means.

hope it