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Homework answers / question archive / In 1982, the U

In 1982, the U

Economics

In 1982, the U.S. Mint decided to change the composition of pennies from about 90% copper (and 10% zinc) to 2% copper (and 98% zinc) to save money due to the rising cost of copper. Your recently deceased grandpa had a collection of 2,500 pennies minted before 1982, and he left them to you in his will.

What is the value of the pennies based on their metal content alone? Assume that copper sells for $4.50 per pound and zinc for $1.60 per pound, and that it takes 120 pre-1982 pennies to add up to one pound of total weight. Provide your answer in terms of dollars, rounded to the nearest cent (i.e., the hundredths decimal place).

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Answer:

It takes 120 pre-1982 pennies to add up to 1 pound of weight.

Granpa has left 2500 pre-1982 pennies. So,the total weight of pennies in pounds will be- (2500/120)= 20.83 pounds

The pre-1982 metal composition was 90% copper and 10% zinc.

According to the question,90% of the total weight of pennies is copper. This means that 90% of 20.83 pounds is copper. Thus, 90/100*20.83=18.75(approx) pounds of total weight of pennies is copper. The total value of this copper is Price*Quantity=4.50*18.75=84.375 dollars

10% of total weight is zinc. Thus,10% of 20.83 = 2.083 pounds of total weight is zinc. Current price of zinc is 1.60 dollars per pound. Thus, total value of zinc metal in pennies= Price*Quantity=1.60*2.083=3.33 dollars

Total value of metal content of pennies is value of copper+value of zinc=84.375+3.33=87.705 dollars or 87.71dollars

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