how much money would you have spent?

Question

It was reported that Ross Perot spent approximately $40 million of his own money in the 1992 presidential campaign. His total worth was reported to be approximately $4 billion. If your total worth was $50,000 and you spent the same ratio of your worth on an election as Perot did, how much money would you have spent?

Answer 1

This is a ratio problem. Equate [$spent]/[Net Worth] for yourself and Ross Perot, use x (amount looking for) for your $ spent and 50,000 for your net worth.

Set up the ratios:

[$spent]/[Net Worth] = [RP $spent]/[RP Net Worth]

x / 50,000 = 40,000,000/4,000,000,000 = 4/400 = 1/100

Multiply both sides by 50,000:

x = (50,000)/100

Solve:

x = 500

You would have spent $500.