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essendoubleop · 03-12-2005, 10:34 AM

How would I set up these problems into a matrix? I can probably solve from there.

1)Jack is investing $50,000 in three mutual funds. He estimates that the money market fund will return 5% over the next year, the blue-chip fund will return 9%, and the high-tech fund 16%. He wants a total first-year return of $4000. To avoid excessive risk, he decides to invest three times as much in the money-market fund as in the high-tech fund. How much should Jack invest in each fund?

2)Suppose you work for a supplier of lawn products. The company needs to ship 600 pounds of grass fertilizer with a nitrogen content of 25%. You check the warehouse and find they don't have any 25% nitrogen fertilizer in stock. The warehouse has on hand three different types of grass fertilizer, G1, G2, G3, with nitrogen contents of 30%, 20%, and 15% respectively. Your boss says, "Figure out how to mix them to get the 600 pounds." You reply, "Boss, I've got three variables but only two equations. There's going to be a lot of solutions." The boss answers, "I don't care how you do it as long as you use full sacks. I don't want any open sacks hanging around to spill." Fertilizer G3 is in 60 pound sacks and the other two are in 30 pound sacks. List ALL of the various ways you can mix the fertilizers. (For instance, 10 sacks of G1 and 10 sacks of G2 is one way.)

03-12-2005, 10:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
essendoubleop Psycho	Matrix word problems How would I set up these problems into a matrix? I can probably solve from there. 1)Jack is investing $50,000 in three mutual funds. He estimates that the money market fund will return 5% over the next year, the blue-chip fund will return 9%, and the high-tech fund 16%. He wants a total first-year return of $4000. To avoid excessive risk, he decides to invest three times as much in the money-market fund as in the high-tech fund. How much should Jack invest in each fund? 2)Suppose you work for a supplier of lawn products. The company needs to ship 600 pounds of grass fertilizer with a nitrogen content of 25%. You check the warehouse and find they don't have any 25% nitrogen fertilizer in stock. The warehouse has on hand three different types of grass fertilizer, G1, G2, G3, with nitrogen contents of 30%, 20%, and 15% respectively. Your boss says, "Figure out how to mix them to get the 600 pounds." You reply, "Boss, I've got three variables but only two equations. There's going to be a lot of solutions." The boss answers, "I don't care how you do it as long as you use full sacks. I don't want any open sacks hanging around to spill." Fertilizer G3 is in 60 pound sacks and the other two are in 30 pound sacks. List ALL of the various ways you can mix the fertilizers. (For instance, 10 sacks of G1 and 10 sacks of G2 is one way.)