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Divide $80 among three people so that the second will have twice as much as the first, and the third will have $5 less than the second. How much will the third dude have?

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David Shabazi Profile
David Shabazi answered

Let person 1 = x, person 2 = y, and person 3 = z. So three people have to share $80. If this is the case, we can assume this equation:

x + y + z = 80 (because the amount of money that each of the three have will add up to $80.)

The second person, y, has to have twice as much as the first person, x. Meaning we can assume the equation: Y = 2x. Therefore:

x + (2x) + z = 80

3x + z = 80

The third person, z, has to have $5 less than the second person, y. Meaning we can assume the equation z = y - 5 (however, we want to keep the x + y + z = 80 equation in terms of only one variable, x. So, in z = y - 5, we can replace the y with 2x, making it z = 2x - 5).

3x + (2x - 5) = 80

5x - 5 = 80

5x = 75

x = 15

The first person will have $15. We can determine what the other two people will get using only this bit of information, and our previously assumed equations. If we recall, our other two equations were:

y = 2x and z = 2x - 5

They both have the x variable in them. Simply plug in the value for x into these two equations.

y = 2(15)

y = 30

z = 2(15) - 5

z = 25

The question asks how much the third person will get. And we made the third person = z. So the third person will get $25.

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