Question

Marina bought 2.6 pounds of salmon at the fish market. The total cost was $38.87. What was the price of the salmon per pound?

Answer 1

The salmon costs `$14.95` per pound.

Explanation:

Write out an equation for the total cost. The price per pound multiplied by the number of pounds will give you the total cost.

`"Total cost"="Price per pound"*"Number of pounds"`

Rearrange this algebraically to solve for `"Price per pound"`. To do this, divide both sides of the equation by `"Number of pounds"` to get `"Price per pound"` by itself.

`"Total cost"/color(red)("Number of pounds")="Price per pound"*cancel("Number of pounds")/cancel(color(red)("Number of pounds"))`

This leaves us with a new form of the equation.

`"Price per pound"="Total cost"/"Number of pounds"`

All we need to do now is substitute in the given information and solve.

`"Price per pound"="Total cost"/"Number of pounds"=38.87/2.6=$14.95`