Math question please help.

Question

Alvin and Simon started off with the same amount of money. Alvin tripled his money then lost $5.00. Simon. Simon found $5.00 then double his money.

1)     Create two expressions representing the money both Alvin and Simon had (keep in mind to use the same variable for both)

2)     Simplify the two expressions assuming the two started with $5.00, $10.00, and $12.00

3)     Compare the two chipmunks’ current amount of money using <, >, or =

4)     Based on the results who is most likely to have more money Alvin or Simon?

I managed to do the first two steps, but I do not know what's going next, can you help to solve it?

Answer 1

Use A for Alvin and S for Simon, initially A = S and given the changes now the expression representing how much money they have would be

Alvin 3A - 5

Simon S + 5 + 2(S + 5) = S + 5 + 2S + 10 = 3S + 15

For part 2 you should have used the expressions above and amounts of $5, $10, and $12 to find out how much money Alvin and Simon would end up up with.

Part 3 is asking you to compare your results in part 2 for Alvin and Simon. When they both start with $5 who has more at the end or are they equal. You will repeat this again for $10 and $12.

Then for part 4 you will go back to your results in part 3 and see if you notice a pattern (i.e. Does Alvin always make more? Do they both always end up with the same amount?)