Suppose that 17 inches of wire costs 51 cents. At the same rate, how many inches of wire can be bought for 42 cents?

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Answer 1 · 2018-04-08T16:11:39

14 inches of wire

Set up a proportion of inches of wire:cents

#17:51=w:42 rarr w# represents the unknown amount of wire that can be bought for 42 cents

#17/51=w/42 rarr# Put them in fraction form

#1/3=w/42 rarr# The first fraction can be simplified (17 is a factor of 51)

Since 3 is being multiplied by 14 to get 42, we can multiply 1 by 14 to get w

#w=14#

Or you could cross multiply:

#1*42=w*3#

#42=3w#

#w=14#