Question

if john spent $130 and matt spent $480, john will have three times as much money left as matt. both boy's started with the same amount of money. how much money did each boy's start with ?

Answer 1

Let x = amount of John's or Matt's money
Set up the equation. According to the first statement,
x - 130 = 3(x - 480)
Solve for x:
x - 130 = 3x - 1440
x - 3x = -1440 + 130
-2x = - 1310
x = $ 655

Hope this helps~ :3