Margaret is helping he neighbor with some yard work. The neighbor pays Margaret $0.75 for each bucket of weeds pulled and $1.50 for each new petunia planted. When Margaret finished she had twice as many empty pots as buckets of weeds and had earned $30 helping in the yard. How many buckets of weeds did Margaret pull? How many petunias did she plant?
Let the number of buckets of weeds = N.....then....the number of pots of petunias = 2N
So
N ( amount paid for each bucket of weeds) + 2N (amount paid for each petunia pot ) = $30
N ( .75) + 2N (1.50) = $30 simplify
.75N + 3N = 30
3.75N = 30 divide both sides by 3.75
N = 8 = buckets of weeds
2N = 16 = pots of petunias