Mixture Problems

Mixture Problems
By: Jacob Hoadley

What is a mixture problem? Word problems where items or quantities of different values are mixed together

Mixture Problems + Real Life After learning quite a bit of information about mixture problems, I’ve found that they can be most useful to business owners who are trying to figure out what they need to use to make a certain profit Mixture problems can also be used for all kinds of science problems, chemistry in particular

Problem #1 Mr. Wilson wrote down his daily black cow root beer float sales for the last week. He had sold 414 floats at $2.15 each. The ingredients for the floats cost $1.08 per float. How much profit did he make last week?

Problem #1 answer 414*2.15 = 890.1 414*1.08 = 447.12 890.1 – 447.12 = 442.98 Mr. Wilson’s total profit was $442.98

Problem #2 9 lbs of mixed nuts containing 55% peanuts was mixed with 6 lbs of another kind of mixed nuts that contains 40% peanuts. What percent of the new mixture is peanuts? .55*9 + .40*6=15x 4.95 + 2.4 = 15x 7.35 = 15x X = 7.35/15 X = .49 or 49% of the new mix is peanuts

Problem #2 answer .55*9 + .40*6=15x 4.95 + 2.4 = 15x 7.35 = 15x X = 7.35/15 X = .49 or 49% of the new mix is peanuts

Problem #3 Brand X sells 21 oz. bags of mixed nuts thatcontain 29% peanuts. To make theirproduct they combine Brand A mixed nutswhich contain 35% peanuts and Brand Bmixed nuts which contain 25% peanuts.How much of each do they need to use?

Problem #3 answer Let a = ounces of brand A nuts used Let b = ounces of brand B nuts used .35a +.25b/21 = .29 .35a + .25b = .29 * 21 (1) .35a + .25b = 6.09 (2) A + B = 21

#3 continued Now we multiply both sides of (2) by .25 and then we subtract (2) from (1) 21*.25 = 5.25 (1) .35a + .25b = 6.09 (2) .25a + .25b = 5.25 6.09 – 5.25 = .84 = .1a A = 8.4

#3 continued A + B = 21 8.4 + B = 21 21 – 8.4 = 12.6 B = 12.6 8.4 + 12.6 = 21

Mixture Problems