Rick spent $3000 of his salary on furniture and 1/5 of his remaining salary on shoes. If he had 2/5 of his salary left in the end, how much was his salary?

Let x = salary

Let (x-3000)/5 = cost of shoes
Therefore, total salary minus his costs is the 2/5 of his salary left:
x - 3000 - (x-3000)/5 = (2/5)x
[ x - 3000 - (x-3000)/5 = (2/5)x ] * 5
5x - 15000 - x + 3000 = 2x
2x - 12000 = 0
2x = 12000
x = 6000

hope this helps~ `u`

Jeeten

To find out Rick's salary, we can work backwards using the given information.

Let's assume Rick's salary is "x".

First, we know that Rick spent $3000 on furniture. So, we subtract this amount from his salary:
x - $3000

Next, we know that Rick spent 1/5 of the remaining salary on shoes. Since Rick had 2/5 of his salary left in the end, he must have spent 3/5 of his salary:
(3/5)(x - $3000)

Now, we can equate this expression to the remaining salary of 2/5 of his original salary:
(3/5)(x - $3000) = (2/5)x

To solve this equation, we will simplify and isolate the variable 'x':

(3/5)(x - $3000) = (2/5)x
3(x - $3000) = 2x
3x - $9000 = 2x
x - $9000 = 0 (subtracting 2x from both sides)
x = $9000

Therefore, Rick's salary is $9000.