Shilongo has a sum of money. He gave half of this money to his wife and then N$800, which is a third of the remainder, to his son Andrew. How much did Mr. Shilongo have at the beginning?

Answer 1

Let's denote the initial amount of money Mr. Shilongo had as \( x \).

1. He gave half of this money to his wife: \[ \text{Amount given to wife} = \frac{x}{2} \] Therefore, the amount remaining after giving to his wife is: \[ \text{Remaining amount} = x - \frac{x}{2} = \frac{x}{2} \]

2. He then gave N$800 to his son Andrew, which he mentioned is a third of the remaining amount. This can be expressed as: \[ \frac{1}{3} \left( \frac{x}{2} \right) = 800 \]

3. Now, we can set up the equation: \[ \frac{x}{6} = 800 \]

4. Solving for \( x \): \[ x = 800 \times 6 \] \[ x = 4800 \]

Thus, Mr. Shilongo had N$4800 at the beginning.