Shilongo has a sum of money. He gave half of this money to his wife and than N$ 800 to his son Andrew.

Question

1. How much did Shilongo's wife get from her husband?
2. How much did Mr. Shilongo have at the beginning?

Answer 1

Let's denote the total amount of money Shilongo had at the beginning as \( x \).

1. Shilongo gave half of his money to his wife, so the amount his wife received is: \[ \text{Amount to wife} = \frac{x}{2} \]

2. After giving half of his money to his wife, he then gave N$ 800 to his son Andrew. So, he had: \[ \text{Remaining money} = \frac{x}{2} - 800 \]

Since he started with \( x \) and gave away half to his wife, this means he should have enough to give the N$ 800 to Andrew as well. Hence, we set up the equation: \[ \frac{x}{2} - 800 = 0 \]

This implies that he has zero money left after giving to his wife and son. To find \( x \), we can rearrange this equation: \[ \frac{x}{2} = 800 \] Multiplying both sides by 2, we find: \[ x = 1600 \]

Now we can answer the questions:

1. The amount Shilongo's wife received: \[ \text{Amount to wife} = \frac{x}{2} = \frac{1600}{2} = 800 \]

2. The total amount Mr. Shilongo had at the beginning is: \[ N$ 1600 \]

Thus, Shilongo's wife received N$ 800, and Mr. Shilongo initially had N$ 1600.