Cashews cost 4.75 per pound and hazelnuts cost 4.50 per pound. What is larger, the number of pounds of cashews in a mixture of cashews and hazelnuts that costs 5.50 per pound, or 1.25? Alternatively, are they equal, or is it impossible to calculate?
My answer: I believe that 1.25 is larger. I conclude this because even if a 1.25lb mix were entirely composed of cashews, it would be more costly than 5.50/lb. Therefore, the mixture must have fewer than 1.25lbs of cashews, and 1.25 is greater.
The supposed answer: "There is no way to calculate the number of pounds of either nut in the mixture. We can calculate the ratio of the number of pounds of cashews to the number of pounds of hazelnuts required of the mixture to cost $5.50 per pound, but without knowing how many total pounds the mixture is, we cannot calculate the number of pounds of either component."
Please let me know if I'm wrong, but if I'm not, I think I need to email them.