Question

Maggie had a number of identical flowers for sale. She sold 70 of them with a 50% loss and sold the rest with a 80% profit. On the whole, Maggie still made a 10% profit. How many flowers did Maggie have at the beginning?

Answer 1

ANSWER:

130 flowers

STEP-BY-STEP EXPLANATION:

Let x be the total number of flowers, we can establish the following equation:

$70\left(-50\%\right)+\left(x-70\right)\left(80\%\right)=x\left(10\%\right)$

We solve for x:

$\begin{gathered} 70\left(-0.5\right)+\left(x-70\right)\left(0.8\right)=x\left(0.1\right) \\ \\ -35+0.8x-56=0.1x \\ \\ 0.8x-0.1x=56+35 \\ \\ 0.7x=91 \\ \\ x=\frac{91}{0.7} \\ \\ x=130 \end{gathered}$

The total number of flowers, that is, the ones it had at the beginning was 130