Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 2.6 Junior Find the answer Canada

For every 3 chocolates that Claire buys at the regular price, she buys a fourth chocolate for 25 cents. Claire buys 12 chocolates in total for $6.15. What is the regular price of one chocolate, in cents?

Pick one

Solution

For every 3 chocolates that Claire buys at the regular price, she buys a fourth for 25 cents.

Consider dividing the 12 chocolates that Claire buys into 3 groups of 4 chocolates.

In each group of 4, Claire buys 3 chocolates at the regular price and the fourth chocolate is purchased for 25 cents.

That is, of the 12 chocolates that Claire buys, 3 are bought at 25 cents each while the remaining 9 are purchased at the regular price.

The total cost to purchase 3 chocolates at 25 cents each is 3×25=753\times25=75 cents.

Since Claire spent 6.15 and the total cost of the 25 cent chocolates was 75 cents, then the cost of the regular price chocolates was \$6.15-\$0.75=\$5.40$.
Since 9 chocolates were purchased at the regular price for a total of 5.40, then the regular price of one chocolate is $5.409=$0.60$\frac{\$5.40}{9}=\$0.60\$ or 60 cents.

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.