You can buy 8 apples at the Quick Market for $1.45. You can buy 6 of the same apples at Stop and Save for $1.22. Which place is the better buy?

At about 18 cents each, the apples at Quick Market
are a better buy.
The apples at Stop and Save are around 20 cents each.

Explanation:
This becomes easy to solve if you figure out the cost per apple
c
a
Quick Market:
c
a
=
$
1.46
8
=
c
1
1.45
÷
8
≈
0.18


Stop and Save
c
a
=
$
1.22
6
=
c
1
1.22
÷
6
≈
0.2
_
(Stop doing the math the instant you can tell which number is larger.)


Quick Market is the better buy.

To solve this in your head:
1) You can see that "6 apples for (about) $1.20" is about 20 cents each.
2) For the other apples to be 20 cents each, the price for 8 would have to be about $1.60
3) Because the cost of 8 apples is less than $1.60, then the Quick Market apples are cheaper than the other ones.