Aclass donated $3.5 in nickels and dimes. in all there were 45 coins. how many were there of each

So first, I would assume they all are nickels, to see how short of $3.50 we are.

So, 45 coins times the value of 5 cents would then be $2.25.

So that means we are 1.25 dollars short of 3.50 dollars.

If the dime is worth 5 cents more then the nickel is, we can just divide 1.25 by 5 cents to see how many extra 5 cents we need.

1.25/0.05 = 25

So therefore there were 25 dimes, and through that we can tell there were 20 nickels.

With a continuous thought process.