A student spends 2/5 of his pocket money on stationary , 1/4 on school levy and 1/6 on food. If he's left with $55, how much was his pocket money

Answer 1

Hi Anthony,

Thank you so much for reaching out for help. I'd love to help you not only solve this problem but understand how to get it.

First things first. Fractions can make this problem look harder than it is. So let's replace fractions with whole numbers.

How would you solve this problem if it were whole numbers?

So the student spend $20 of his money on stationary, $15 on school levy and $10 on food. If he has $55 left, how much money did he start with?

Step 1: OK first you would add all the money he spent. 20+15+10 which equals 45.

So with fractions you start off the same way. We need to find out what fraction of the money he spent already. So just like before, add all the fractions

Step 1: 2/5 + 1/4 + 1/6

In order to add fractions we need a common denominator, which is 60. Change all fractions:

2/5 = 24/60

1/4 = 15/60

1/6 = 10/60

Add them together = 24+15+10 = 49

49/60

So this is how much of the money you've spent:

49/60 of the whole amount.

This means that you have not spent 11/60.

(To get this I did 60/60 - 49/60)

If 11/60 represents $55 then we can create a proportion to find out how much you started with altogether.

11 is a part of the whole (60)

$55 is a part of the whole amount (x)

11/60 = 55/x

Cross multiply

11x = 55*60

11x = 3300

Divide by 11

X = 300

$300 is the answer.