# Simultaneous equation help

1. Homework Statement
A zookeeper spends $133.10 altogether on bananas and nuts for the monkeys. He buys 8 kilograms more bananas than nuts. Bananas cost$2.20 per kilogram and nuts cost \$4.80 per kilogram.
How many kilograms of bananas did the zookeeper buy?
You must show the equations that you use to solve the problem.

3. The Attempt at a Solution

I think this has somthing to do with simultaneous equations but i don't know how to make them out of the question...
1. Homework Statement

2. Homework Equations

3. The Attempt at a Solution

Related Precalculus Mathematics Homework Help News on Phys.org
This is one of those problems that you need to read several times and write down the things that you know:
You know there are bananas (B) and nuts(N)
so the total is.......?
Then there are 8kg more B than N
so B+?=N.....
see if you can come up with a system from that.
You will be finding the total kg and dividing by the prices given.

so would the first simutaneous equation be:

B+N=133.10?

YEsssssss

I don't see what the second one would be though... at a guess i would say it would be:

N+8=B

Are there more Bananas or nuts? for the second one?

CC

What do you mean by the same form?

Well, for the first equation, you have
$$B+N=133.10$$
then for the second one (check my first post) you will have:
$$B+?=N$$
so you have B and N on the same side in the first equation, so you need the second equation to look like the first one in terms of where the B and N are. (also known in the nerdy math world as "standard form".)
CC

So would that be B+N=133.10 and then you sub N=B+8 for the value of N so it looks like:

B+(B+8)=133.10?

i'm not sure...

You're right. You got it.
Now you need to get your second equation to look like the first one...you need all letters on one side and the numbers on the other. Then you stack them on top of each other and there's your system.

is the next step b^2=125.10?

ok
You got:
$$B+N=133.10$$
B+(B+8)..not so much....

look, if N=B+8,(which is right)
and you want the N and B on the same side of the "=" sign, what do you need to do?
Forget the B+(B+8)..you are making this harder than it is meant to be.

If the equation is B+8=N then you take N from both sides and take 8 from both sides so it would be B-N=-8

Is that right?

PUrrrrfect!

then do I go 2B=125.10

then B=62.55?

yes yes
then to figure the kg, what?

divide by 2.20?

you got it!

Now you have to do the Nuts!

so the amount of bananas in kgs is 62.55/2.20=28.43 kgs (2dp)?

And the amount of nuts is 28.43/8=3.55 kgs?

you lost ME there.
What did you get for the N when you solved for it?
Why divide by 8?
I got 28.43 for Bananas......

I got 3.55 kgs for nuts as the question says there is 8 times as many bananas than nuts.... Is that not right?

As the question is stated, the zookeeper buys 8 MORE kg, not 8 TIMES more
Go back to your original equations and plug in there

so its 20.43 kgs of nuts?