The question asks for 100% of the money. Add up the percents given and subtract from 100%. This is the percent of the
budget that is $40. From this you can calculate the entire amount of money budgeted.
$40 is 10% of the total amount of money.
H
This easy problem becomes complicated by using variables instead of numbers. If you don’t like dealing with variables, turn
it back into an easy problem by Picking Numbers. Pick a value for n, making sure that it is a multiple of 5 since you would
rather deal with integers if at all possible. Say n = 10. Then Joe ate 10 chicken wings, which is more wings than Iris
ate. Therefore, Iris ate 8 chicken wings. Now plug n = 10 into all the answer choices.
Only (H) matches the 8 chicken wings.
Algebraically, take the n chicken wings Joe ate and subtract leaving
26.
(F) 4 × 10 = 40 This is not 8, so you can eliminate (F).
This is not 8. Discard.
(G)
This is the value you want. (H) might be the correct answer.
(H)
This is not 8. Discard.
(J)
This is not 8. Discard.
(K)
A
If you’re going to eliminate one variable to solve for the other, try to solve for the one the question asks for. Translate the
given information into math. Meghan has $100 more than Andrew, so m = a + 100. After spending $20, Meghan has five times
as much money as Andrew, so m + 20 = 5a. The problem is asking you to find a, so substitute a + 100 into the second
equation for m, and solve for a.
27.
