Calculate Total Cost: Finding the Price of 10 Packets at $0.50 Each

Basic Multiplication with Decimal Money

A packet of potato chips costs half a dollar. A teacher buys enough packets for 10 students to have one each. How much does she pay in total?

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Step-by-step written solution

Follow each step carefully to understand the complete solution
1

Understand the problem

A packet of potato chips costs half a dollar. A teacher buys enough packets for 10 students to have one each. How much does she pay in total?

2

Step-by-step solution

To solve this problem, we'll follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Identify the given information
  • Step 2: Apply the appropriate formula
  • Step 3: Perform the necessary calculations

Now, let's work through each step:
Step 1: The problem gives us:
Cost per packet of potato chips is 0.500.50 dollars.
Number of packets = Number of students = 10.
Step 2: We'll use the formula:
Total Cost=Cost per packet×Number of packets \text{Total Cost} = \text{Cost per packet} \times \text{Number of packets}
Step 3: Plugging in our values, we get:
Total Cost=0.50×10=5.00 \text{Total Cost} = 0.50 \times 10 = 5.00

Therefore, the solution to the problem is 5 5 dollars.

3

Final Answer

$5 5

Key Points to Remember

Essential concepts to master this topic
  • Formula: Total Cost equals Cost per Item times Number of Items
  • Calculation: $0.50×10=$5.00 \$0.50 \times 10 = \$5.00 using decimal multiplication
  • Verification: Count by half-dollars: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0... up to 5.0 ✓

Common Mistakes

Avoid these frequent errors
  • Adding instead of multiplying quantities
    Don't add $0.50 + 10 = $10.50! This combines different units (money + quantity) which makes no sense. Always multiply cost per item times number of items to find total cost.

Practice Quiz

Test your knowledge with interactive questions

\( 20.1:10= \)

FAQ

Everything you need to know about this question

Why do I multiply instead of add the numbers?

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You're finding the total cost of multiple items. Think of it as: $0.50 + $0.50 + $0.50... (10 times). Multiplication is just a shortcut for repeated addition!

What does 'half a dollar' mean exactly?

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Half a dollar means 50 cents or $0.50. It's exactly half of $1.00, just like how half of any whole number gives you a decimal ending in .5

Do I need to include the dollar sign in my calculation?

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The dollar sign ($) shows the units, but you can calculate with just the numbers: 0.50 × 10 = 5.00. Just remember to add the $ back to your final answer!

How can I check if $5 is reasonable?

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Use estimation! If each packet costs about 50 cents, then 10 packets should cost about half of $10 = $5. Your answer makes perfect sense!

What if I got $50 as my answer?

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You probably calculated $0.50 × 100 instead of × 10. Remember: there are only 10 students, so the teacher only needs 10 packets, not 100!

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