Dividing evenly

Question

M spent $132.63

J spent $10.00

O spent $54.23

Sid spent $23.70

S spent $20.16

To make it so everyone spent the same amount of money, who owes what money to who?

Answer 1

First you have to see how much money was spent in total. Add all the money that was spent:

 

132.63 + 10.00 + 54.23 + 23.70 + 20.16 =  240.72.

 

There are 5 people. Note that the total will not divide evenly by 5. But let's do it anyhow.

 

240.72 ÷ 5 = 48.144. So each person should have spent $48.14 (and there are 2 pennies extra that we need to get somewhere). Now figure out how much was underpaid or overspent.

 

Underpaid -> J, Sid, and S spent too little. Subtract what they spent from 48.14. That's much they need to throw into the middle of the table.

 

Overspent -> M and O spent too much. Take what they spent and subtract 48.14 from it. That's how much they need to take out of the pile of money J, Sid, and S put in the middle of the table.

 

You can probably finish this up from here.

 

--Louise