Mary bought a scarf for five dollar spent Half of the remaining money on jogging shoes bought lunch for two dollars and then spent half of her remaining dollars on a DVD she had $10 left how much money does she start with?

Answer 1

starting amount ---- x
spent $5, amount left = x-5
after spending half of that on jogging shoes,
amount left = (1/)(x-5)
after spending $2 for lunch, amount left
= (1/2)(x-5) - 2
spent half of that on a DVD, amount left
= (1/2)[(1/2)(x-5) - 2] which equals 10

(1/2)(x-5) - 2 = 20
(1/2)(x-5) = 22
x-5 = 44
x = $49

check:
start with 49
spent $5 on scarg, amount left = 44
spent half, amount left = 22
spent $2 on lunch, amount left = 20
spent half of that on DVD, amount left = 10