Pat bought 5 pounds of apples. how many pounds of pears could pat have bought for the same amount of money?
(1) one pound of pears costs $0.50 more than one pound of apples.
(2) one pound of pears costs \small 1\frac{1}{2} times as much as one pound of apples

Pat could bought atleast 3 pounds of pears.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the price of one pound of apple be $1

So, the price of one pound of pear would be $1 + $0.50 = $1.50

Let the number of pounds of pears be 'x'.

So, for same amount of money the equation would be

(1) atleast 3 pounds of pears he could bought.

For second case,

Cost of one pound of pear would be

So, equation becomes,

So, (2) atleast 3 pounds of pears he could buy.

Hence, Pat could bought atleast 3 pounds of pears.