Answer :
Lets call B the nuber of bottles they will buy and C the number of cans.
Then, if each bottle cost $4, the cost of all the bottles will be 4B.
If each can cost $1.50, then, the total cost of the cans is 1.5C.
If we add this two costs, we have the expression we need:
[tex]\text{Cost}=4B+1.5C[/tex]If they buy 5 bottles of kitten formula and 12 cans of wet cat food, we have B=5 and C=12, and the cost is:
[tex]\text{Cost}=4B+1.5C=4\cdot5+1.5\cdot12=20+18=38[/tex]They will spend $38.