PLEASE HELP ME!!

Question

Barney and Betty break into a parking meter with $3.90 in dimes and quarters in it (legal disclaimer: don't do this), and agree that Barney will get all the dimes, and Betty will get all the quarters. (Barney isn't terribly bright.) Barney ends up with four more coins than Betty. How much money did each get?

Answer 1

10x+25y=390

x=4+y

10(4+y) +25y = 390

35y = 350

y =10 quarters for Betty = $2.50

x = 14 dimes for Barney = $1.40

temporarily at least, until police arrest them both and take all the money, including any other money they had before the heist.

then after court fines, they're both out a few more hundred dollars at best

with a conviction for at least misdemeanor theft, if not felony attempted grand theft (it's the amount they thought they could get, not the actual amount that determines the level of offense for an attempt charge) IF they had a job, they'll lose it as the employer finds out what happened, and they'll have difficulty getting a job with a criminal record. If Barney is stupid enough, he might plead insanity, or incompetence to stand trial, but mere stupidity is not a legal defense, possibly a mitigating factor for sentencing.