2.25.2010

Burger Bucks

Parents are often more than happy to point out how much cheaper things were when they were a kid. This is referred to as the “when I was a kid,” syndrome. Even my mom likes to tell me about the diner she went to in the 1950’s. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the story about how you could get a "Burger, fries, and a drink, and change back from a dollar!" She remembers the burgers alone only cost 29 cents. Now, keep in mind that although there were daily specials, there was no such thing as a “meal deal.”

Nowadays a burger, small fries, and a small drink from a fast-food chain (all purchased separately like my mom had to do,) will cost you $5.57. A burger alone is $2.89 cents and the fries will run you about $1.29. I have to agree that sure seems more expensive!

So using this information, how much was the whole meal in the 1950’s?

How much was just a drink in the 1950’s?

How much were just the fries in the 1950’s?

Make sure to explain how you found your costs in the 1950’s. Your explanation should be so clear anyone could solve this kind of problem.

What math concept have you learned in class that helps you solve this problem?

Make sure to organize your data in a manner that is easy for people to compare the costs.


EXTRA CREDIT:
If the increased cost of these items were exactly the same as the 60 year period from above, how much will those same food items cost you in 2070?

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

TD

The whole cost of a meal in the 50s was approximately 56 cents. We found this out by first finding all the costs of the fries, burger and the drink. To find these prices, one must first find the scale factor. To get from .29 (the cost of a 50s burger) to 2.89 (the cost of a burger in our now time.)was approximately 9.97. We then dived the cost of the fries, 1.29, in the now time, by that scale factor to get .13 which is the cost for the 50s time. We did the same thing for the drink to get .14 cents as our cost for the 50s.

Anonymous said...

RT
1. $.56
2. $.14
3. $.13


.The whole meal in the 1950’s was $.56. We found this out by first finding the cost of the burger, fries, and the drink. To get the prices I had to find the scale factor by multiplying 4.29 by $2.89 which was 9.97. Then we had to do the same for the fries we divided the cost of the fries to the scale factor which was $.13. Then we had to do the exact same thing for the drinks, we divided the price of the drink by the scale factor which was $.14. After that we added all the prices together to get $.56

Anonymous said...

SK Burger Bucks
Drink cost 1950:14cents
Fries Cost 1950: 12cents
Burger Cost 1950:29cents
Total cost 1950: 55cents

Getting the answer to this question is simple enough. All you have to do is to find the scale factor between the burger from modern times and the burger from 1950. The scale factor you will get is 9.95. Apply this scale factor to the fries to get their previous cost of 12 cents. The soda is a bit tricky, however. You aren’t given the price of a modern soda. What you have to do, is add up the modern prices of fries and a burger, then subtract your answer from the price of a whole meal. Your result will be the price off a soda, which you must divide by a scale factor.


The concept I learned in class that was helpful during this problem was the concept of scale factorization.

Anonymous said...

AL
1.) I got 0.59$. I got that by figuring out how many times 0.29$ goes into 2.89$. I got 9.97. So from there I divided all the other costs by 9.97 to get 0.12$ for the fries and 0.13$ for the drink.
2.) The cost for the drink in 1950 was 0.13$.
3.) The cost for the fries in 1950 was 0.12$.
4.) The math concepts I learned from this is to think harder and ratios. For the ratios part I should compare to similar things and you may get the answers and for the thinking part I learned that I need to be more independent.

Anonymous said...

JD Burger Bucks
By adding up all the prices for the 1950s, the total cost cents.
The fries in the 1950s would cost 12 cents. The drink was 14 cents. To find the prices in the 50’s you must divide the prices while these days by the scale factor, 9.95.
The concept that I have learned today is that you can find prices from a different time period by using scale factor.

Anonymous said...

ZB

1. A whole meal would cost approximately 56 cents. If you round $2.89 to $2.90, the scale factor from 29 would be 10. So we estimated the scale factor to be 10. I also rounded $5.57 to 5.60 and divided by 10 and got 56.
2. A drink was 14 cents in the 1950s. I added the costs for the fries and the burger together and subtracted the total from $5.57 to get 1.39. I rounded that to $1.40 and divided by the scale factor, 10.
3. Fries were 13 cents in the 1950s. I rounded 1.29 to 1.30 and divided it by 10. The cost I got was 13

Anonymous said...

WO Burger Bucks
By adding up all of the prices for the 1950s, the total cost 55 cents.
The fries in the 1950s would cost 12 cents. The drink was 14 cents. To find the prices in the 1950s, you must divide the prices now a days by the scale factor, 9.95.
The concept that I have learned today is that you can find prices from a different time period using a scale factor.

Anonymous said...

EBC

Burger Bucks

By adding up all the prices from the 1950’s, the total cost of the meal would be 55 cents.
The fries cost 12 cents. The drink would cost 14 cents. To find this the prices in the 50’s, you must divide the prices from now a day by the scale factor of 9.95. The concept that I have learned today is that you can find the prices from a different time period using a scale factor.

Anonymous said...

mb
To find out the answer we decided we needed a scale factor. So we took the cost of a burger nowadays and we divided it by the 29 cents a burger used to cost this gave us 9.965 or around ten. We used the scale factor ten to find out the cost of what the fries used to be. This gives me about 15 cents. I then added this to the original 29 cents of the burger so, so far the meal costs about 44 cents. The problem doesn’t tell you how much the drinks cost so we decided that to have change afterward like the mother said, the drinks would have to run about 13 cents. 13 cents plus the 44 cents we have so far it would be 57 cents as the whole meal.

The math concept I have learned in this class that helped me to solve this problem is scale factors.

Anonymous said...

AM
For this problem you have to figure out scale factor from .29 to 2.89. The answer is close to 9.97. You get that by dividing 2.89 by .29. Then you do the same to the other numbers.
The fries now cost 1.29. In the 1950’s they would cost about .13 cents. You get that by dividing 1.29 by the scale factor of 9.97. You should end up with an answer of .13 cents.
The drink currently costs 1.39. Then divide 1.39 by 9.97 and you should end up with an answer of .14 cents.
Then you have to figure out what the whole meal costs. First add .13 cents (because that was the price of the fries), to .14 cents (because that is the drink costs), and then add .29 cents (because that is the price of the burger) and you should end up with the meal costing .56 cents.

Anonymous said...

AR

Like most math problems and what I say every time, this problem is not hard if you know how to do it. First of all, you need to figure out the scale factor from $.29 to $2.89. This is about 9.97. Then you apply this to the other numbers.
The fries now cost $1.29. So to find the price of the in the 50s, divide $1.29 by the scale factor of 9.97. That comes to .13, making the fries $.13 in the 50s.
Since you have to find out the price of the drink now, you add the price of the burger to the price of the fries. Then subtract that from the price of the whole meal. This is $1.39. Now apply the scale factor to this. The drink in the 50s cost $.14.
Finding the price of the meal in the 50s is the easiest. Just add $.29(burger), $.13(fries), and $.14(drink). That all equals $.56.

Anonymous said...

MW:

1. The cost of a meal in the 1950’s would be approximately 56 cents. I got this by dividing 2.89 by .29 and got 9.965 and we rounded that to 10 so that was the scale factor. We then divided the price of a meal now, 5.57 which we rounded to 5.60, by the scale factor, 10, and got .56.

2. The cost of a drink in the 1950’s would be 14 cents. This is because I added the cost of a burger and fries and subtracted them from 5.57, the total cost of a meal, and had .14 cents leftover.

3. The cost of fries in the 1950’s would be 13 cents. This is because I divided the price of fries now, 1.29 which I rounded to 1.30, by 10 and got .13 cents.
4. The concept I learned in class that helped me was learning how to figure out the scale factor.

Anonymous said...

MF
The cost of the meal in the 1950’s is around 56 cents. I get this by dividing 2.89 by .29 and got 9.965. I rounded that to 1o so that was the scale factor. I then divided the price of a whole meal, 5.57 which we rounded to 5.60, by 10 and got .56.
Drinks were about 14 cents. Since they didn’t give the price of drinks, I subtracted the price of fries and a burger to get 14 cents.
The fries were around 13 cents. I figured this out by dividing the 1.29 (what it costs now) by 10 to get around 13 cents.
We learned scale factors.

Anonymous said...

J.M.

The whole meal would cost 49 cents. I got my answer by finding all of the prices which were 29 cents, 10 cents, and 10 cents. I added them all together and got 49 cents.

The scale factor is 9.95. so the cost of a 1950’s burger was 29 cents. I got my answer by dividing 2.89 by 9.95 and got 29 cents.

The cost of a current drink is 1 dollar. I divided 1.00 by 9.95 and got 10 cents.

The cost of current fries is 1.65 dollars. I divided 1.65 by 9.95 and got 17 cents.

I learned scale factors and that helped me a lot in getting the answers.

Anonymous said...

BT

1.
The whole meal would cost approximately 56 cents. I figured this out by rounding a lot. First, I found the scale factor between the two hamburgers, which, rounded, was 10. Then, I just divided the modern day products by ten and rounded to the nearest hundredth.

2. A drink in the 50s would cost you about 14 cents. I found this out by adding the price of the modern day hamburgers and fries (4.18) and then subtracting from the price of the whole meal (5.57) and then I got 1.39. Then, I divided that by ten and got approximately 14 cents.
3. The fries in the 50s would cost about 13 cents. I found this by dividing the price of fries today (1.29) by ten and I got about 13 cents.
4. A math concept I’ve learned in class that helped me solve this problem is scaling.


EXTRA CREDIT:
I got that in 2070, the whole meal would cost approximately $55.70. I got this by using the same scale factor (10) from the 50s to today, and applying it to this. $5.57 multiplied by ten is $55.70.
Hamburger-$22.80
Fries-$12.90
Drink-$13.90

Anonymous said...

TM
The total meal in the 50’s was .54$.
The drink was .14 cents in the 50’s
The fries were .13 cents in the 50’s
I got these answers by first figuring out what the price of the drink was in the 50’s. After that I figured out what the rate change was between the two burgers which is 9.96. After figuring this out I applied this to the fries, making it a decimal of .0996 and then multiplying it. After figuring out the cost of all of these I added them to figure the price of the entire meal in the 50’s. The total price was .54 cents which means if you paid with a dollar you would receive .46 cents in change.

The concept we learned in class that would help us figure this out is scaling. We learned how to scale to figures, which is making them bigger and smaller. The only difference now is the variable which is price instead of size.

In 2070 the fries would be $12.95.
The burger would be $29.01.
The drink would be $13.95.
The total cost of the entire meal would be $55.91.

Anonymous said...

2.25.2010 (C.S)
Burger Bucks
In the 50’s a whole meal containing a burger, small drink and small fries would total to be$0.53. The drink alone would cost you near $0.14 and the French fries would cost about $0.10.If burgers today cost $2.89, and 50 years ago they cost 29 cents than you would have to compare the two prices to find the scale factor which is approximately 9.96%. Now, you would use that scale factor to find the cost of everything else. To solve the price of the original drink, I added the cost of the burger and fries and subtracted that from the total. The drink nowadays would be $1.39. For the grand total of the entire meal in the fifty’s I added all of the prices together. The change that you would get back would be $0.52.

Anonymous said...

HW

The whole meal in the 1950s cost around 56 cents. I got this by taking the cost of a burger in the 1950s and dividing it by the cost of a burger nowadays, and got .1. I then took the meal nowadays and multiplied it by .1, and got .56.

A drink in the 1950s cost around 14 cents. The first thing I had to do was find out how much a drink cost nowadays, by taking the meal cost and subtracting the burger and fries cost from it. Nowadays a drink is $1.39. I multiplied 1.39 by .1, and I got .139, so a drink back then cost about 14 cents.

Fries in the 1950s cost around 13 cents. I got this by taking the cost of fries nowadays and multiplying it by .1, to get .129. I rounded it to .13.

Something that we learned in class to help us was scale factors. It was much easier finding the scale factor then multiplying it by the modern day cost to get the cost back in the 1950s.

Anonymous said...

CB
I first decided to find the scale factor between the 50’s burger and the common burger, this was 9.97. I then divided the other items by this number. By doing this the fries would have run you 12 cents. Finally, by using the same method, the drink would have run you 13 cents. The drink was a little bit more complicated. I had to add together the cost of the burger and fries and subtract that number from the price of the whole meal. I then divided that number by my scale factor, and got 13 cents.
The entire meal in the 50’s would cost you 54 cents.

50’s drink=13 cents 50’s fries= 12 cents

Modern drink= 1.13$ Modern fries= 1.29$

50’s burger= 29 cents Modern burger=2.89$

Scaling was very helpful for me in solving this problem.

Anonymous said...

E.A.W.
The meal price for the 1950s would be about 0.56 cents. I got this by finding the scale factor from today’s burger price to the 1950s burger price. I did this by dividing 2.89 by 0.29. I got 009.96551. So I rounded it to 9.97. Then I took today’s meal plan price ( $5.57) and divided it by this scale factor. That is how I got 0.56. Next, I took the price of a burger and fries today and added them together. It was $4.18. Then, I subtracted 4.18 by today’s meal plan price (5.57) and I got $1.39. So, the price of a small soda today is $1.39. I now divided 1.39 by my scale factor, 9.97. The price of a soda in the 1950s was about 14 cents. Now I took the price of the fries today ($1.29) and divided it by my scale factor, 9.97. I got about 13 cents.
Meal plan in the 1950s=$0.56 Small soda in the 1950s=$0.14 Small fries in the 1950s=$0.13
I found that working on scale factors/scaling really helped me in finishing this problem.

Anonymous said...

C.D. and M.V.
1) The whole meal in the 1950’s was $0.56
2) The drink alone in the 1950’s was $0.14
3) The fries alone in the 1950’s was $0.13

The way we got this answer is by finding the scale factor by seeing how many times the price of the burgers in the 1950’s goes into the normal price of now day’s burgers. The scale factor is 9.97. Then you see how many times 9.97 goes into the price of the now days price of fries. Then you get the price of the 1950’s fries. You do the same for the drink. Then you add all of the 1950’s prices up and get the total amount of money you would have to spend in the 1950’s.

Anonymous said...

EEW
Burger Bucks
1. The price for the whole meal is about 57 cents. First, we found the difference from the hamburgers, which was ten. Since the meal now is 5.57 it has to be 57 cents. (5.57/10 = around .57.
2. The soda is around 12 cents. First, I added the fries and the burger, then the money left had to be the drink. I took that leftover number, and divided it by ten.
3. The Fries are about 19 cents. First, it told you that they were 1.29. 1.29 divided by ten is about 19 cents.
4. I found out these prices by knowing the difference between them; 10. After you know that, you can divide the price now by ten to get the fifties price.
5. I think the math concept is scale factor.
6.

Anonymous said...

E.R.

First, I divided 2.89 (cost of a burger today) by 0.29(cost of a burger in 1950), because I needed to find the scale factor. Then, I divided 1.29(cost of fries today) by 9.97(the scale factor) to get the cost of fries in 1950. The fries cost 0.13. After that, I added the cost of a burger today to the cost of fries today. I got 4.18. Afterward, I subtracted 4.18 from 5.57(the cost of a full meal) and got 1.39. That is the cost of a drink today. Later, I divided 1.39 by 9.97 and got 0.14(the cost of a drink in the 1950’s). The concept I have used to figure this out is scale factor.

Fries
1950: 0.13
Today: 1.29

Drink
1950: 0.14
Today: 1.39

Burger
1950: 0.29
Today: 2.89