Tierra, Nico, and Alex had $865 altogether. Tierra spent 2/5 of her money. Nico spent $40,and Alex spent twice as much as Tierra. If the three had the same amount of money left, how much money did alex have in the begging?
I was working on this at the same tiime as you, but I arrived at a different answer.
x = amt Tierra had
2x/5 = amt Tierra spent
3x/5 = amt Tierra had left
y = amt Alex had
4x/5 = amt Alex spent
y - 4x/5 = amt Alex had left
z = amt Nico had
$40 = amt Nico spent
z - 40 = amt Nico had left
Three equations
x + y + z = 865
3x/5 = z - 40
z - 40 = y - 4x/5
Solve these equations simultaneously,
x + y + z = 865
3x/5 - z = -40
z + 4x/5 - y = 40
x = 275 (Tierra had)
y = 385 (Alex had)
z = 205 (Nico had)
2x/5 = 110 = (Tierra spent)
4x/5 = 220 = (Alex spent)
40 = (Nico spent)
Each had $165 left
275 - 110 = 165 (Tierra left)
385 - 220 = 165 (Alex left)
205 - 40 = 165 (Nico left)
julia, please go with Helper's answer.
Thank you helper, I made a mistake with Alex's spending.
It should read:
Tierra spent 2/5 of her money, so she has 3t/5 left.
Nico spent $40, so he has n-40 left.
Alex spent twice that Tierra spent, so he has a-2(2t/5) left.
Equate money left for each person:
3t/5 = n-40 ...(2)
n-40 = a-a-2(2t/5) ...(3) "
Which obviously should give the same answer as yours.
It is $385
385
Hmmmmm..................its 385!
They each have $125.00 each left over.
Alex's total is $425.00.
Tierra's total is $275.00.
Nico's total is $165.00.
I can confirm this answer because in the end, they all add up to $865.00.