Bridget and Caroline win some money and share it in the ratio 7:3. Bridget gets £40 more than Caroline. How much did they get altogether?

Answer 1

We know that Bridget must correspond to the 7 since she got more than Caroline.

We don't yet know the total, but they've told us what the difference is between the two parts. We can use that!

7 times some number will be the amount that Bridget got, and Caroline got 3 times that same number.

The two parts are 3x and 7x.

7x - 3x = 40 is the difference between the two. (Bridget got 40 more than Caroline.)

We can solve this for x, then we can find 7x+3x=10x to get their total.

7x - 3x = 40

4x = 40

x=10

The total was 100 pounds.

(Bridget got 70 and Caroline got 30.)