Word Problem

Question

Ginny went to the store with a gift card.  She spent 2/5 of the amount on her gift card.  Then she spent $15 more of the money on the card.  Her mom gave her $25 in cash.  Then she spent 1/2 of the total amount she had.  She had a total of $14 left to spend.  How much was on Ginny's gift card?  Explain?

Answer 1

Chad, I hope I'm not too late to help.

 

If she spent half of what she had and has $14, then the other half was $14, so she had $28. We know that $25 of that was cash, so she had $3 on the gift card.

 

Put the $15 back on and she had $18, which is 3/5 of what she started with.

 

This means that $18 is 3 parts out of 5 of the original amount. If 3 parts make $18 total, then each part is $6.

 

The original amount is 5 parts of $6 each, or $30.