Kim paid 3/7 of a bill, Sherri paid 35% of the bill, and Judy paid the rest.

Which of the following statements is true?

Kim paid the most.
Sherri paid the most.
Judy paid the most.
They all paid the same amount.

1 answer

To compare how much each person paid, we first need to express their payments in the same format. We can do this by converting the fractions and percentages to a common denominator.

  1. Kim paid: \( \frac{3}{7} \) of the bill.

  2. Sherri paid: \( 35% \) of the bill can be expressed as a fraction: \[ 35% = \frac{35}{100} = \frac{7}{20}. \]

Now we need to compare \( \frac{3}{7} \) and \( \frac{7}{20} \). To do this, we can find a common denominator. The least common multiple of 7 and 20 is 140.

Convert Kim's payment: \[ \frac{3}{7} = \frac{3 \times 20}{7 \times 20} = \frac{60}{140}. \]

Convert Sherri's payment: \[ \frac{7}{20} = \frac{7 \times 7}{20 \times 7} = \frac{49}{140}. \]

Now we compare the two payments:

  • Kim: \( \frac{60}{140} \)
  • Sherri: \( \frac{49}{140} \)

Since \( \frac{60}{140} > \frac{49}{140} \), Kim paid more than Sherri.

Now let's find out how much Judy paid. The total bill can be represented as 1 (or \( \frac{140}{140} \) in terms of the common denominator). The amount paid by Judy is: \[ 1 - \left( \frac{3}{7} + \frac{7}{20} \right) = 1 - \left( \frac{60}{140} + \frac{49}{140} \right) = 1 - \frac{109}{140} = \frac{140}{140} - \frac{109}{140} = \frac{31}{140}. \]

Now we compare:

  • Kim paid \( \frac{60}{140} \).
  • Sherri paid \( \frac{49}{140} \).
  • Judy paid \( \frac{31}{140} \).

Thus, the ranking in terms of who paid the most is:

  1. Kim: \( \frac{60}{140} \)
  2. Sherri: \( \frac{49}{140} \)
  3. Judy: \( \frac{31}{140} \)

So, the true statement is: Kim paid the most.