Muriel has kept track of her income and expenses for the week in the spreadsheet below. How much was Muriel’s restaurant bill?

Question

A 3-column table with 7 rows showing transaction, amounts, and totals. Beginning balance total is 380 dollars and 29 cents. Transaction amounts are Interest income 18 dollars and 10 cents, groceries negative 61 dollars and 39 cents, restaurant bill blank, paycheck 476 dollars and 24 cents, gas negative 35 dollars. Ending balance total is 735 dollars and 69 cents.
a.
$17.66
b.
$42.55
c.
$6.35
d.
$112.55

Answer 1

To find the restaurant bill, we can set up the equation using the information provided.

Starting balance: $380.29
Interest income: +$18.10
Groceries: -$61.39
Restaurant bill: unknown (let's call it \( x \))
Paycheck: +$476.24
Gas: -$35.00
Ending balance: $735.69

We can write the equation:

\[ \text{Starting balance} + \text{Interest income} - \text{Groceries} + \text{Restaurant bill} + \text{Paycheck} - \text{Gas} = \text{Ending balance} \]

Plugging in the values:

\[ 380.29 + 18.10 - 61.39 + x + 476.24 - 35.00 = 735.69 \]

Now, let's calculate the left side step by step:

1. Total without restaurant bill:

   \( 380.29 + 18.10 = 398.39 \)

   \( 398.39 - 61.39 = 337.00 \)

   \( 337.00 + 476.24 = 813.24 \)

   \( 813.24 - 35.00 = 778.24 \)

2. Set the equation:

Now we can rewrite our equation with the current total without the restaurant bill:

\[ 778.24 + x = 735.69 \]

To find \( x \), we solve for it:

\[ x = 735.69 - 778.24 \] \[ x = -42.55 \]

Since a negative value for a restaurant bill isn't logical in this context, we need to adjust the equations correctly from the previous steps. The interest and income gains should balance out expenses and provide any positive shifts in total value.

Revisiting:

Actual calculated ending total from the proper equation (which seems sequentially adjusted for proper checks):

1. Restaurant should be subtracted (aka we backtrack the proper total with cash flow);

2. Let's break it down so we find restaurant as resulting to balance known, in reverse:

When combining all gains and debts directly, we should cancel the expenses directly from known totals leading to final output reflect to match remaining;

Initial + Gains - Expense layout the bill, use aggregate:

= \( 380.29 + 18.10 + 476.24 - 61.39 - 35 = 778.24 \)

Set back down \[ x\]: and correcting;

Final = (778.24 - 735.69 = 42.55; hence realised \boxed{42.55} is true full expense to restaurant.

We conclude Muriel's restaurant bill amounted to $42.55; the option provided discussed aligns (b) $42.55 as a resultant statement correctly reflects choices across checks offered.