Question

The four girls washed the neighbor's dog for 50 cents. They didn't know how to divide the money, so the dog owner said: "I will give the four of you 4/5 of the total amount. To the first one to tell me how much that is, I will give 1/2 of the other 1/5" . If someone gave the dog owner the right answer, how did the money get divided up?

Answer 1

4/5 of 50 = 40 cents to start so ten cents each to start
(1/2)(1/5)50 = 5 cents more to truth teller
3 get 10 cents, winner gets 15 cents
there is 5 cents left over which the dog owner probably escaped with chortling the whole way home.

Answer 2

4/5 * .50 = .40 -> .10 each

The remaining 1/5 = .10, so 1/2 of that is .05.

So 3 of the 4 girls got $.10 and one got $.15. What happened to the other nickel?