Lexi and Maria had $250 altogether. After Lexi spent 2/5 of her money and Maria spent $40, they had the same amount of money left. How much did Lexi have in the beginning?

L+M=250

3/5 L = M-40

Now we can substitute for M, and we get

3/5 L = 250-L-40
8/5 L = 210
L = 131.25

To solve this problem, we can set up an equation to represent the given information. Let's assume that Lexi had "x" dollars in the beginning.

According to the problem, Lexi spent 2/5 of her money, which means she had 3/5 of her money left. So, Lexi had (3/5)x dollars remaining.

Maria, on the other hand, spent $40 and ended up with the same amount of money as Lexi. This means Maria's money remaining is also (3/5)x dollars.

Together, Lexi and Maria had $250, so we can add their remaining amounts:

(3/5)x + (3/5)x = $250

Now, let's solve the equation:

(6/5)x = $250 (we multiplied both sides by 5/3 to get rid of the fraction)
6x = 250 * 5 (we multiplied both sides by 5 to isolate x)
6x = $1250
x = $1250 / 6 (we divided both sides by 6)
x ≈ $208.33 (rounded to two decimal places)

Therefore, Lexi had approximately $208.33 in the beginning.