Question

After counting her weekly earnings, she bought a candy bar for $.45, a pen for 250 and her mom gave her 2.00. She had $5.05 left. What did she start with?

Answer 1

She had $10 dollars because $5.05 + $2.00 + $0.45 + $2.50

Answer 2

She started with $6.00.

Explanation:

1. This problem is meant to have you work backwards from the information given. Firstly, it is important to write all the expenses and earnings she had to her weekly earnings.

Starting Amount = ?

- $0.45 (candy bar)

- $2.50 (pen)

+ $.200 (mom)

End Total = $5.05

2. With this information, this next step will be much easier. With this process, you can now use inverse operations to undo the last few equations.

Firstly, $2.00 given by her mom will be subtracted from $5.05.

Secondly, with our new total of $3.05, $2.50 from purchasing the pen will be added to this amount. This leaves you with $5.55.

Lastly, the $0.45 cents she spent with the candy bar will be added to the $5.55.

This leaves the starting amount to $6.00.

3. She started with $6.00