Question

On holidays three friends decided to buy a Christmas tree for $96. They made a cash contribution of 3: 5: 8. The two friends who invested less decided to return the third friend's money so that their cash contributions became the same. What is the ratio of the money returned by the first person to the money returned by the second person

Answer 1

Answer: 7:1

Explanation:

First off, we see that the contribution was divided into 16 parts (8+5+3). If the tree was $96, 96/16 = $6, so each individual part was $6.

First Person: 3(6) = $18

Second Person: 5(6) = $30

Third Person: 8(6) = $48

We know that after the two friends return the money, the $96 will have been split evenly between all three of them.

96/3 = 32 - each person pays $32 total

Because each person has to pay $32 total, the first person must return $14 and the second person must return $2. This means that the ratio is 14:2 which can be reduced to 7:1.

Person 1: 32-18 = 14

Person 2: 32-30 = 2

Person 3: 48-14-2 = 32. - check to see if we were correct, which we are because after two friends pay 3rd back, their total is also 32 dollars.