Sarah had three times as much money as Raymond. After she paid After she paid Raymonde a certain number of dollars, she had $30 in Raymond had $42. This means that?

Answer 1

Let S represent the amount Sarah had initially and R the amount Raymond had initially. By the first sentence, we know S = 3R and by the second, S + R = 30 + 42 (the amount she gave him is irrelevant since the total amount between the two of them doesn't change.) So, by substituting 3R for S in the second equation, this becomes 3R + R = 72 -> 4R = 72 -> R = 18. Thus Raymond started out with $18 and Sarah started out with 3 times that or $54.