Stan has 52 quarters and nickels. He has three times as many nickels as quarters. How much money does he have?

1 Answer
Jun 3, 2018

$5.20

Explanation:

Start off by forming an equation:
We know that there are a total of 52 coins made up of quarters and nickels.
So the number of nickels plus the number of quarters equals 52.

Algebraically: n+q=52
where n is the number of nickels and q is the number of quarters.

We know that there are 3 times as many nickels as quarters, so the number of nickels n is 3 times the number of quarters q:
n=3q

Substitute that into our initial equation to obtain:
4q=52
which can be solved to get:
q=13
so there are 13 quarters.

Use this result to find the number of nickels from the first equation:
n+13=52
so:
n=39

check:
39/13=3

Nickels are worth 5 cents and quarters are worth 25 cents.
So total money T=(39xx5)+(13xx25)=520 cents
520 cents=$5.20