Question

Max kept records about where he spent his money. At the end of the year, he announced that he had spent 1.2 of his income on food and rent, 1/2 of his income on clothing, 1/12 on entertainment, and had saved $1400.
Mike said he spent 1/2 of his income on food and rent, 1.4 of his income on clothing, 1/12 on entertainment, and had saved $1400.
1. Who had the highest yearly salary?
2.How much more did he make?
3. How much did the other person make during the year?

We need to find out how to solve this problem. We do not want the answer to the problem we want to know how to solve.

Answer 1

Confused about what you mean by
"he had spent 1.2 of his income on food.."

did you mean 1.2% ?
1.2 would be 120%, so he is obviously living beyond his means.
So is Mike.

please clarify.

(I am going to assume you meant:
Mike said he spent 1/2 of his income on food and rent, 1/4 of his income on clothing, 1/12 on entertainment, and had saved $1400. )

add up 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/12
subtract that from 1
whatever that fraction is represents $1400
divide 1400 by that fraction to get his income.
I got $8400

check:
1/2 of 8400 = 4200
1/4 of 8400 = 2100
1/12 of 8400 = 700
total so far = 7000 leaving 1400 for savings

Answer 2

I meant to type 1/2 and not 1.2,sorry. Thank you for answering the questions. I will use the same operation to solve the first part of the problem. Thank you!