sally and susan had an equal amount of oney each. after sally spent $15 and susan spent $24, the ratio of sally's money to susan's money was 4:3. how much money did each girl have at first?
let the starting amounts be x and y
x = y
(x-15)/(y-24) = 4/3
x=y=51
check
(51-15)/(51-24) = 36/27 = 4/3
To solve this problem, let's assume that both Sally and Susan had x amount of money initially.
After Sally spent $15, she would have x - $15 left.
Similarly, after Susan spent $24, she would have x - $24 left.
Now, according to the given information, the ratio of Sally's money to Susan's money after spending is 4:3. This can be expressed as:
(Sally's money after spending) / (Susan's money after spending) = 4/3
So, we can set up the following equation:
(x - $15) / (x - $24) = 4/3
To solve this equation, we can cross-multiply:
3(x - $15) = 4(x - $24)
Simplifying the equation:
3x - $45 = 4x - $96
Bringing like terms to one side:
4x - 3x = $96 - $45
x = $51
Therefore, both Sally and Susan initially had $51 each.