math problem that I just keep getting wrong

Question

Five friends (A, B, C, D, and E) agreed to share the expenses of a surprise birthday party equally. If A spent $41, B spent $13, C spent $15, D spent $38, and E spent $33, who owes money after the party and how much do they owe? To whom is money owed and how much should they receive? In order to resolve these discrepancies, who should pay how much to whom?

Answer 1

Five friends (A, B, C, D, and E) agreed to share the expenses of a surprise birthday party equally. If A spent $41, B spent $13, C spent $15, D spent $38, and E spent $33, who owes money after the party and how much do they owe? To whom is money owed and how much should they receive? In order to resolve these discrepancies, who should pay how much to whom?

A: $41

B:$13

C:$15

D:$38

E:$33

First, add up the total money spent: $140

Then, divide this number by the number of friends (5), which will tell you how much money each of them should've paid: $28 dollars

A paid 41 dollars but should've paid only 28, so they paid 13 more dollars (41-28).

B paid 13 but should've paid 28, so they owe 15 dollars (28-13).

C paid 15 but should've paid 28, so they owe 13 dollars (28-15).

D paid 38 but should've paid 28, so they paid 10 more dollars (38-28).

E paid 33 but should've paid 28, so they paid 5 more dollars (33-28).

So, the friends who paid less than 28 dollars (B and C) owe money to the friends who paid more than 28 dollars (A, D, E). Let's take a look.

Friend B owes 15 dollars and friend C owes 13 dollars. That is a total of 28 dollars. Since friend A paid 13 more dollars, friend C can give friend A their 13 dollars. Now, we have 15 dollars left. Since friend D paid 10 more dollars, and friend E paid 5 more dollars, then friend B, who owes 15 more dollars, can give 5 to friend E and 10 to friend D.

Answer: Friend C owes friend A 13 dollars, and friend B owes 5 dollars to friend E and 10 dollars to friend D