Three people- Paul, Sara, and John-want to put their money together to buy a $90 radio. If Sara agrees to pay twice as much as John, and Paul agrees to pay three times as much as Sara, how much must Sara pay?

Question

Three people- Paul, Sara, and John-want to put their money together to buy a $90 radio. If Sara agrees to pay twice as much as John, and Paul agrees to pay three times as much as Sara, how much must Sara pay?

Answer 1

J = 1/2S

P = 3S

S + P + J = S + 3S + 1/2S = 90

Solve for S.

Answer 2

To find out how much Sara must pay, we need to determine the amount each person will contribute. Let's start by assigning variables:

Let J be the amount John will pay.
Since Sara agrees to pay twice as much as John, her payment will be 2J.
And since Paul agrees to pay three times as much as Sara, his payment will be 3(2J) = 6J.

Now, let's calculate the total amount contributed by all three people:
J + 2J + 6J = 9J

We know that the total cost of the radio is $90, so we can set up the following equation:
9J = 90

Now we can solve for J:
9J = 90
J = 10

Now that we have found the value of J, we can calculate the amounts for Sara and Paul:
Sara's payment = 2J = 2 * 10 = $20
Paul's payment = 6J = 6 * 10 = $60

Therefore, Sara must pay $20.