For the sake of adherence to the "spirit" of the question, please don't use calculators. Here's the question. To see the answer, click on the comments button.
Tom, Dick and Harry went for lunch to a restaurant. Tom had $100 with him, Dick had $60 and Harry had $40. They got a bill for $104 and decided to give a tip of $16. They further decided to share the total expenses in the ratio of the amounts of money each carried. The amount of money which Tom paid more than what Harry paid is:
A) 120
B) 200
C) 60
D) 24
E) 36
Tom, Dick and Harry went for lunch to a restaurant. Tom had $100 with him, Dick had $60 and Harry had $40. They got a bill for $104 and decided to give a tip of $16. They further decided to share the total expenses in the ratio of the amounts of money each carried. The amount of money which Tom paid more than what Harry paid is:
A) 120
B) 200
C) 60
D) 24
E) 36
Kelly Puente joined the Press-Telegram in 2006 as an editorial assistant and eventually worked her way up to general assignement reporter. Over the years, she’s covered everything from crime and breaking news to human interest and the cities of Bellflower and Cerritos. Kelly is a Long Beach resident and graduate of Cal State Long Beach. She’s new to the education beat and is looking for great stories.
The problem requires the use of fractions. First you have to determine the fraction of money each person has already. That requires that you find the total amount of money they have already. 100+60+40 is 200.
To find the fraction of money for each person, divide those numbers by 200, the same way you would do if calculating a percentage. Then reduce fraction to the lowest common denominator.
100 over 200 is 1/2 for Tom
60 over 200 is 3/10 for Dick
40/200 is 1/5 for Harry
Now find the total amount they have decided to pay for the meal. 104 plus 16 is 120.
Now apply the ratios to Tom and Harry.
If Tom pays 1/2 of 120, he is paying 60 dollars.
If Harry is paying 1/5 of 120, he's paying 24 dollars.
To find out how much more Tom is paying than Harry, do 60 - 24 which equals 36, or E.
I did it in my head. Woo Hoo
Argghh! Got the 24 and too quickly snapped that up as the answer. Next time - need to go back and re-read the question.