Question

A lady went shopping and spent half of what she had on buying hankies and gave a rupee to a begger waiting outside the shop. She spent half of what was left of what was left on a lunch and followed that up with a two rupee tip. She spent half of the remaining amount on a book and three rupees on bus fare. When she reached home, she found that she had exactly one rupee left. How much money did she start with?

Answer 1

Let the amount lady had be Rs x

Amount spent for hankies and given to begger is x/2 + 1

Remaining amount is x – (x/2 + 1) = x/2 – 1 = (x-2)/2

Amount spent for lunch (x-2)/2×1/2 = (x-2)/4

Amount given as tip is Rs 2

Remaining amount after lunch = (x-2)/2 – (x-2)/4 – 2 = (2x – 4 – x + 2 – 8)/4 = (x – 10)/4

Amounts spent for books =1/2 × (x-10)/4 = (x-10)/8

Bus fare is Rs 3

Amount left = (x-10)/4 – (x-10)/8 – 3 = (2x – 20 – x + 10 – 24)/8 = (x-34)/8

So from the question we know that the amount left = Rs 1

(x-34)/8 = 1

By cross-multiplying we get,

x – 34 = 8

x = 8 + 34

= 42

∴ The lady started with Rs. 42