Problem:
Tom, Dorothy, and Sammy went on a vacation and agreed to split the costs evenly. During their trip Tom paid , Dorothy paid , and Sammy paid . In order to share the costs equally, Tom gave Sammy dollars, and Dorothy gave Sammy dollars. What is ?
Answer Choices:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Solution:
The total shared expenses were dollars, so each traveler's fair share was dollars. Therefore and , so .
OR
Because Dorothy paid 20 dollars more than Tom, Sammy must receive 20 more dollars from Tom than from Dorothy.
The problems on this page are the property of the MAA's American Mathematics Competitions