Answer:
32 pounds
Step-by-step explanation:
Fraction of supply for regular trail mix= ⅜
Fraction of supply for spicy trial mix
= ¼
We multiply both the denominator and numerator by 2 for the fraction of supply used for spicy trail mix so that both fractions have a common denominator of 8. This is because the amount of raisins he has in his supply is constant.
Simplifying the above information into units form:
Total (supply)= 8 units
Regular trail mix= 3 units
Spicy trail mix= 2 units
Raisins used this week
= (3 +2) units
= 5 units
Since he used 20 pounds of raisins this week, we can equate 5 units to 20 pounds.
5 units ----- 20 pounds
Divide both sides by 5 to find how much raisins 1 unit represents:
1 unit ----- 20 ÷5= 4 pounds
Since his supply was 8 units of raisins,
8 units ----- 4(8)= 32 pounds
∴ He had 32 pounds of raisins at the beginning of the week.