Word problem

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Mxdude190

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The manager of a pet store received a shipment of birdseed in 11-pound bags. She divided each 11-pound bag into smaller bags of unequal weight, which she labelled small and large. The store sold 29 small bags of seed and 22 large bags of seed in one month. If a total of 270 pounds of seed were sold that month, how many pounds were in one small bag? In one large bag?
I understand that 29x + 22y = 270, but from there I don't know the next steps.
 
Mxdude190 said:
The manager of a pet store received a shipment of birdseed in 11-pound bags. She divided each 11-pound bag into smaller bags of unequal weight, which she labelled small and large. The store sold 29 small bags of seed and 22 large bags of seed in one month. If a total of 270 pounds of seed were sold that month, how many pounds were in one small bag? In one large bag?
I understand that 29x + 22y = 270, but from there I don't know the next steps.
Click to expand...
First define 'x' and 'y'.

Then use "She divided each 11-pound bag into smaller bags of unequal weight".

Please tell us - what do you get from above information.
 
x=small bags, y=large bags. The 11 pound bag part is throwing me off. I've gotten the answer, but I feel I did it in the most inefficient way possible. I think I'm just missing something simple.
 
Mxdude190 said:
x=small bags, y=large bags. The 11 pound bag part is throwing me off. I've gotten the answer, but I feel I did it in the most inefficient way possible. I think I'm just missing something simple.
Click to expand...
You say:

x=small bags

What of small bags - is x the number of small bags, or weight of small bags or height of small bags or color of small bags - or something else?

How did you use the fact:

"She divided each 11-pound bag into smaller bags of unequal weight".

Please share your work - so that we can catch your mistake (if there is any).
 
So 29 would be the number of small bags and X would be the weight of those bags. Same for Y? So I see how those weights would equal the total of 270, but I still don't see where the 11 pounds would be relevant if it were mixed among the 51 total bags
 
22y=-29x+270 that's what I the do to try to solve for Y, but I'm sure that's not right.
 
Mxdude190 said:
The manager of a pet store received a shipment of birdseed in 11-pound bags. She divided each 11-pound bag into smaller bags of unequal weight, which she labelled small and large. The store sold 29 small bags of seed and 22 large bags of seed in one month. If a total of 270 pounds of seed were sold that month, how many pounds were in one small bag? In one large bag?
I understand that 29x + 22y = 270, but from there I don't know the next steps.
Click to expand...
x = weight of seed in small bag

y = weight of seed in large bag

"She divided each 11-pound bag into smaller bags" -> x + y = 11 ............................................................(1)

"The store sold 29 small bags of seed and 22 large bags of seed in one month. If a total of 270 pounds of seed were sold that month" -)

29 * x + 22 * y = 270 ...................................................(2)

Now you have two unknowns (x & y) and two equations [(1) & (2)].

Solve for x & y using your favorite method.
 
Okay that makes total sense to me now I didn't realize she was dividing each 11 pound bag into only 1 large and 1 small bag. I thought it was just saying she divided 11lb bags among any number of small or large bags. I solved for y by doing y=-x+11 then putting that in place of y in the equation 29x +22(-x+11)=270. Got x=4 then plugged that into x + y= 11 for y.
 
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