You buy tealights and mints as party favors for a baby shower. The tealight candles come in packs of 12 for $3.50. The mints come in a pack of 50 for $6.25. What is the least amount of money you can spend to buy the same number of candles and mints?

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  $125.00

Step-by-step explanation:

The least common multiple of 12 and 50 is 300. To get 300 candles, you need to buy 25 packs. At $3.50 each, that is 25×$3.50 = $87.50.

To get 300 mints, you need to buy 6 packs. At $6.25 each, that is 6×$6.25 = $37.50.

The total cost of 25 packs of candles and 6 packs of mints is ...

  $87.50 +37.50 = $125.00 . . . . minimum cost of equal numbers

Additional comment

It seems likely that 300 of each are not needed. If some smaller number is needed, money can be saved by simply giving away or throwing out the excess over what is needed. In short, the minimum expenditure for equal numbers is $9.75 for 12 candles and 12 mints, with 38 mints left over to go to the food bank.

stops on an even number.