Question

Three brothers divided a prize as follows. The oldest received %, the middle brother received ½, and the youngest received the remaining $120. What was the value, in dollars, of the prize?

Answer 1

1200

Explanation:

Ok since the oldest was given 2/5, the middle was given 1/2, and the youngest was given the rest, that means the fraction that the youngest was given has to make 2/5 + 1/2 + ? = 1. So we have the equation:
`(2)/(5) + (1)/(2) + x = 1`. Now to add the fractions simply multiply 2/5 by 2/2 and multiply 1/2 by 5/5 To get the same denominator:
`(4)/(10) + (5)/(10)+x=(9)/(10)+x`. This means that x is 1/10 , because in adding 1/10 you get the whole 10/10. So 120 is one tenth of the entire prize. This means to get the entire prize you simply multiply by 10. This gives you the equation 120 * 10 = 1200