Problem Solving Set #4

November 12, 2010
Question 15
A loonie is a $1 coin and a dime is a $0.10 coin.  One loonie has the same mass as 4 dimes.  A bag of dimes has the same mass as a bag of loonies.  The coins in the bag of loonies are worth $400 total.  How much are the coins in the bag of dimes worth?
a) $40  b) $100  c) $160  d) $1000  e) $1600

So we know that there are 400 loonies in the bag, since one loonie is one dollar and we have 400 dollars.  Now if we say that for every loonie we have four dimes, because they have the same mass.  Therrefore we times the fourty cents (the monetary value of the dimes) by the number of loonies, because that's how much we have in dimes for each loonie.  Therefore we get the equation $0.4 * 400 = the value of the bag of dimes.  The answer is c) $160.

I found this problem interesting because it sounds confusing to start, but if you think it through slowly it becomes a lot simpler.

I learned to take things step by step.  Once you find all the information you need written in the problem you simply need to write it out in a formula and solve it.