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3 votes
Lily and Sara each had an equal amount of money at first. After Lily

spent $18 and Sara spent $25, Lily had twice as much as Sara. How
much money did each have at first?​

User Himanshu P
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1 Answer

6 votes
Answer: 32



Step-By-Step: First, Lily spent $18, so the amount of money Lily has now is x - 18. Sara spent $25, so likewise the amount of money Sara has now is x - 25. We know that Lily now has twice as much money as Sara, so we can write this fact algebraically as:
+x+-+18+=+2%28x+-+25%29+ (the amount of money Lily has now = two times the amount of money Sara has now)
Now we solve for x:
+x+-+18+=+2x+-+50+ (distribute the 2 on the right hand side)
+-18+=+x+-+50+ (subtract x from both sides)
+32+=+x+ (add 50 to both sides)
So we got x = 32. Does this make sense? If both Lily and Sara started with $32, Lily would now have $32 - $18 = $14, while Sara would now have $32 - $25 = $7, so Lily would now have twice as much money as Sara. Thus $32 is the answer.
User Geoff H
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