Let c be the cost of the cake and h the cost of the ham per pound. Then we have the following expression:
[tex]c+11.5h=38[/tex]since we know that the cake cost 15, then c=15, so the expression would be:
[tex]15+11.5h=38[/tex]therefore, we solve for h to find the equation tha represents the cost of the ham:
[tex]\begin{gathered} 15+11.5h=38 \\ \Rightarrow11.5h=38-15=23 \\ \Rightarrow h=\frac{23}{11.5}=2 \\ h=2 \end{gathered}[/tex]finally, we have that the cost of the ham per pound is $2