I think its B. Let A = price of 1 pound of apples
Pat spent 5(A) dollars on the apples (5 pounds and A dollars per pound). We want to know how many pounds of pears he could have bought for that 5(A) amount. To do this, we would divide the amount spent by the price per pound of the pears. If we let P = price of 1 pound of pears, then we are looking for
(5A dollars)/(P dollars per pound of pears) = ?? pounds of pears
(1) gives us that P = A +0.50, so using the above equation
(5A)/(A+0.50) = ??
this cannot be solved.
(2) however, gives us that P = 1.5A, so using our equation
(5A)/(1.5A) = 5/1.5 = 3.333
Pat spent 5(A) dollars on the apples (5 pounds and A dollars per pound). We want to know how many pounds of pears he could have bought for that 5(A) amount. To do this, we would divide the amount spent by the price per pound of the pears. If we let P = price of 1 pound of pears, then we are looking for
(5A dollars)/(P dollars per pound of pears) = ?? pounds of pears
(1) gives us that P = A +0.50, so using the above equation
(5A)/(A+0.50) = ??
this cannot be solved.
(2) however, gives us that P = 1.5A, so using our equation
(5A)/(1.5A) = 5/1.5 = 3.333
