Jay and Vijay spent an equal amount of money to buy some pens and special pencils of the same quality from…
Jay and Vijay spent an equal amount of money to buy some pens and special pencils of the same quality from the same store. If Jay bought 3 pens and 5 pencils, and Vijay bought 2 pens and 7 pencils, then which one of the following is correct?
A pencil costs more than a pen.
The price of a pencil is equal to that of a pen
The price of a pen is two times the price of a pencil
The price of a pen is three times the price of a pencil
Solution
Let the price of a pen be a and a pencil be b. Equal spending gives $3a + 5b = 2a + 7b$, so $a = 2b$. Hence the price of a pen is two times the price of a pencil.