Question

Three people put their money together to buy lottery tickets. The first person put in $20, the second person put in $29, and the third person put in $41. One of the tickets was a winning ticket. If the winning ticket paid $4.5 million, what was the first person's share of the winnings?

a) $450,000
b) $600,000
c) $750,000
d) $900,000

Answer 1

The first person's share of the lottery winnings is calculated by dividing their contribution by the total contributions and then multiplying by the total winnings. The first person's contribution was $20 out of a total of $90, and the winnings were $4.5 million; hence their share is $900,000.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question involves calculating an individual's share of lottery winnings based on the amount they contributed to the purchase of the tickets. The total amount of money pooled by the three people is $20 + $29 + $41 = $90. The first person's share of the total contribution is $20/$90. To find the first person's share of the winnings, we multiply the total winnings of $4.5 million by the first person's share of the contribution:

First person's share = Total winnings × (First person's contribution/Total contributions)

First person's share = $4,500,000 × ($20/$90) = $4,500,000 × 2/9

First person's share = $1,000,000

So, the correct answer is (d) $900,000.