If you can buy 3 lbs of apples for $7.20, how many pounds of apples can you buy if you have $12.00?

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Answer 1 · 2017-01-13T21:53:38

You can buy 5 lbs of apples for $12.00

We can solve this by writing the ratio:

3 is to 7.20 as x is to 12.00 or 3:7.20 -> x:12.00

Writing this as an equation gives:

#3/7.20 = x/12.00#

We can solve for #x# by multiplying each side of the equation by #color(red)(12)#:

#color(red)(12) xx 3/7.20 = color(red)(12) xx x/12.00#

#36/7.20 = cancel(color(red)(12)) xx x/color(red)(cancel(color(black)(12.00)#

#5 = x#