Question

A girl spent one-fifth of her cash on stamps and twice as much on postcards and then had £1.00 left. How much did she have to start with?

Answer 1

By setting up an equation where 'x' represents the total amount of money the girl had initially, we find that she had £2.50 at the start after spending one-fifth on stamps, twice that on postcards, and ending with £1.00.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve the problem, let's use algebra and define the total amount of money the girl had initially as 'x'. According to the question, she spent one-fifth of her cash on stamps, which is (1/5)x, and then she spent twice as much on postcards, which is 2*(1/5)x = (2/5)x. After these purchases, she has £1.00 left. The equation to represent the situation would be:

x - (1/5)x - (2/5)x = 1

Combining like terms, we get:

(5/5)x - (1/5)x - (2/5)x = 1

(2/5)x = 1

To find x, we multiply both sides of the equation by the reciprocal of (2/5), which is (5/2):

x = 1 * (5/2)

x = 5/2

x = £2.50

So, the girl had £2.50 to start with.