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Kenny spent $80 of his allowance on food, 2/5 of the remainder on stationery

and saved the rest. He saved 1/3 of his allowance. How much was Kenny's allowance?

User MrShoot
by
5.1k points

1 Answer

5 votes

Answer: $180

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Work Shown:

x = total allowance

x/3 = amount saved

2x/3 = amount spent

x-80 = amount left over after spending $80 on food

(2/5)*(x-80) = amount spent on stationary

80+(2/5)(x-80) = total amount spent

80+(2/5)(x-80) = 2x/3

Multiply both sides by the LCD 15 to clear out the fractions

15*( 80+(2/5)(x-80) ) = 15*( 2x/3 )

1200 + 6(x-80) = 10x

1200+6x-480 = 10x

720+6x = 10x

720 = 10x-6x

720 = 4x

4x = 720

x = 720/4

x = 180

Kenny's allowance is $180

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Check:

He saves 1/3 of his $180 allowance, so he saves (1/3)*180 = 60 dollars and spends 180-60 = 120. In other words, (2/3)*180 = 120 is spent.

$80 of the 120 is spent on food, which means the remaining 120-80 = 40 dollars spent on stationary.

If he starts off at $180 and spends $80 on food, then that's a difference of 180-80 = 100 dollars. Two-fifths of which is (2/5)*100 = 40 dollars to match the amount spent on stationary. This helps confirm we have the correct answer of $180.