Question

Can someone help me with this...

Mr and Mrs Lim went shopping with a total of $712.50. After buying some items each, the amount Mrs Lim had left was 4 times the amount she spent and the amount Mr Lim had left was trice the amount he spent. Both of them had a total of $555 left, how much did each of them have at first?

Answer 1

Try setting up the algebraic equations and solving them. Let the starting amounts be x for Mr Lim and y for Mrs Lim.

x + y = 712.50

1/5 of x was spent
1/3 of y was spent

(4/5) x + (2/3) y = 555

Solve the two equations in two unknowns.