Hello!
The way the question is phrased is a little confusing. Here it is rewritten a little more clearly with the same meaning
An alloy of gold, silver, and bronze contain 90% bronze, 7% gold and 3% silver. A second alloy consisting only of bronze and silver is melted with the first alloy and the new mixture contains 85% bronze, 5% gold, and 10% silver. What was the percentage of bronze in the second alloy?
a. 75%
b. 72.5%
c. 70%
d. 67.5%
e. 65%
When a number is unknown, such as the total weight of the first alloy, and especially when working with percents, it is very helpful to use numbers that are easy to work with, like 100.
Let's say the first alloy had a mass of 100 grams. Using the percents given to us, we know therefore that in the first alloy was 90g of bronze, 7g of gold, and 3g of silver.
We are told that the second alloy contains no gold, yet the resulting mixture of the two alloys is 5% gold.
The total amount of gold in the new mixture cannot increase as there was no gold in the second alloy, so it is still the same 7 grams of gold there was in the first alloy.
We know therefore that the new mixture contains 7g of gold, and that that is 5% of its total mass
To find the total mass of the new mixture, set up an equation
\(\frac{5}{100} = \frac{7}{x}\\
\)
5x = 700
x = 140
The new mixture has a mass of 140 grams.
That means that the second alloy had a total mass of 40 grams, since we said that the first one had a mass of 100 grams.
100 + 40 = 140
This new mixture is 10% silver. 10% of 140g = 14g
There are 14 grams of silver in this new mixture, and there were 3 grams of silver in the first alloy.
14 - 3 = 11
That means the second alloy contained 11 grams of silver.
If the total mass of the second alloy was 40 grams and 11 grams of it was silver, the rest must have been bronze
40 - 11 = 29
There were 29 grams of bronze in the second alloy
The question wants to know what percent of the second alloy was bronze. Again we set up an equation
\(\frac{29}{40} = \frac{x}{100}\)
2900 = 40x
Chop off a 0 from both sides (equivalent to dividing both sides of the equation by 10)
290 = 4x
With some quick long division 290/4 = 72.5
The answer is (B), 72.5% of the second alloy was bronze