9514 1404 393
Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
The higher-cost item is forks, so we can let x represent the number of those that are purchased. The total number purchased is 7, so the number of spoons purchased is (7-x).
The total cost is the sum of the costs for each of the items:
6x +5(7-x) = 40
x +35 = 40 . . . . . . simplify
x = 5 . . . . . . . . . . . subtract 35; the number of forks
7-x = 2 . . . . . . . . . the number of spoons
Daniel bought 5 forks and 2 spoons.
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Additional comment
Since $40 is not divisible by $6, we can guess that the number of forks Daniel bought will be a multiple of 5. That is, Daniel bought 0 or 5 forks. If he bought 0 forks, then he must have bought 40/5 = 8 spoons, so that is not a viable choice. The only number of forks that makes sense in this problem is 5 forks, so 2 spoons--numbers that total 7, as required.
