SOLUTION: Three sisters agreed to divide some money that they had saved together. The oldest girl took one dollar less than half the amount, the second oldest took one dollar more than half

Question 268094: Three sisters agreed to divide some money that they had saved together. The oldest girl took one dollar less than half the amount, the second oldest took one dollar more than half of what was left. The youngest sister took the rest, which totaled 8 dollars. How much money had the sisters saved?
Answer by ptaylor(2198) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x=amount of money saved by the sisters
Oldest sister took (1/2)x-1 dollars, leaving x-((1/2)x-1) or (1/2)x+1
second oldest sister took (1/2){(1/2)x+1)}+1 or(1/4)x+1/2+1 which
equals (1/4)x+3/2, thus leaving (1/2)x+1-{(1/4)x+3/2} and this equals
(1/2)x+1-(1/4)x-3/2 or (1/4)x-1/2 and we are told that this totals $8, so
(1/4)x-1/2=8 multiply each term by 4
x-2=32 add 2 to each side
x=$34----amount of money saved by the sisters
CK
Oldest sister took (1/2)*34-1=17-1=16 leaving 18
Second oldest sister took(1/2)*18+1=9+1=10 leaving 18-10=$8 for the youngest sis
Does this help?---ptaylor
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