Step 1. Read the problem. Make sure all the words and ideas are understood.
- Determine the types of coins involved.
Think about the strategy we used to find the value of the handful of coins. The first thing we need is to notice what types of coins are involved. Adalberto has dimes and nickels.
- Create a table to organize the information. See chart below.
- Label the columns “type,” “number,” “value,” “total value.”
- List the types of coins.
- Write in the value of each type of coin.
- Write in the total value of all the coins.
We can work this problem all in cents or in dollars. Here we will do it in dollars and put in the dollar sign ($) in the table as a reminder.
The value of a dime is $0.10 and the value of a nickel is $0.05. The total value of all the coins is $2.25. The table below shows this information.

Step 2. Identify what we are looking for.
- We are asked to find the number of dimes and nickels Adalberto has.
Step 3. Name what we are looking for. Choose a variable to represent that quantity.
- Use variable expressions to represent the number of each type of coin and write them in the table.
- Multiply the number times the value to get the total value of each type of coin.
Next we counted the number of each type of coin. In this problem we cannot count each type of coin—that is what you are looking for—but we have a clue. There are nine more nickels than dimes. The number of nickels is nine more than the number of dimes.
Letdd+9==number of dimes.number of nickels
Fill in the “number” column in the table to help get everything organized.

Now we have all the information we need from the problem!
We multiply the number times the value to get the total value of each type of coin. While we do not know the actual number, we do have an expression to represent it.
And so now multiply number⋅value=totalvalue. See how this is done in the table below.

Notice that we made the heading of the table show the model.
Step 4. Translate into an equation. It may be helpful to restate the problem in one sentence. Translate the English sentence into an algebraic equation.
Write the equation by adding the total values of all the types of coins.

Step 5. Solve the equation using good algebra techniques.
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| Now solve this equation. |
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| Distribute. |
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| Combine like terms. |
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| Subtract 0.45 from each side. |
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| Divide. |
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| So there are 12 dimes. |
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| The number of nickels is d+9. |
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21 |
Step 6. Check the answer in the problem and make sure it makes sense.
Does this check?
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| 12 dimes |
12(0.10)=1.20 |
| 21 nickels |
21(0.05)=____1.05$2.25✓ |
Step 7. Answer the question with a complete sentence.
- Adalberto has twelve dimes and twenty-one nickels.
If this were a homework exercise, our work might look like the following.
