Question

a company made $4 million in the second quarter. this is 1/3 more than it made in the first quarter and 4/5 of what it made in the third quarter. how much did the company make in the three quarters combined?

Answer 1

Let the unknown amount in first quarter be x

4 million = 1/3

x = 1 (whole amount)

we simplify the equation

x 1/3 = 4 → x = 4 × 3/1 → x = 4 x 3 → x = 12 million

First quarter amount is 12 + 4 = 16 million

Let y be the unknown amount for third quarter.

4 million = 4/5

y = 1 (whole amount)

we simplify again:

y 4/5 = 4 → y = 4 × 5/4 → y = 20 / 4 → y = 5 million

Second quarter amount is 5 million

Total amount for all three quarters:

16 + 4 + 5 = 25 million