You have 85 cents made up of nickels (5 cents) and (25 cents). You only have 9 coins. How many quarters and nickels do you have?

1 Answer
Feb 12, 2017

7 nickels and 2 quarters

Explanation:

Use this table to help you visualize how to get the answer:
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As you can see, start with determining the amount of each coin you have.

If you have x nickels and 9 coins in total, therefore you must have 9 - x quarters.

Then determine the unit price of each coin.

Nickels are 5 cents a piece, and quarters are 25 cents a piece.

Now you have to get the total, so multiply the amount by the unit price for both coins.

Nickels:

5x

Quarters:

25 (9 - x)

Now considering this information, adding them together must add to 85 cents because that is the total amount you have. This gives us the following equation:

5x + 25 (9 - x) = 85

Simplify.

5x + 225 - 25x = 85

-20x + 225 = 85

-20x = -140

x = 7

This means that you have 7 nickels.

Now knowing this and that you have 9 total coins, you have to do 9 - 7 to get 2 , the amount of quarters you have.

So this is why you have 7 nickels and 2 quarters.