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 Math Central Quandaries & Queries
 Question from adel, a parent: alice gave reggie and freddie as much money as each had already.reggie in turn gave alice and freddie as much money as each already had in negotiable treasury notes. freddie gave alice and reggie as much money as they each had. in the end they each had the same sum, 24000.00.how much money did they each in the beginning?

There are three steps in this process

1. Alice gave reggie and freddie as much money as each had already.

2. Reggie in turn gave alice and freddie as much money as each already had in negotiable treasury notes.

3. Freddie gave alice and reggie as much money as they each had.

In the end they each had the same sum, $24,000.00. One at a time look at the three people. For example I am going to look at Reggie. At the end he had$24,000.00. After step 3 he had \$24,000.00 and Freddie doubled his money in step 3 so how much did he have after step 2? Reggie had no increase in step 2 but in step 1 Alice doubled his money so how much did he start with?

Now try Alice and Freddie.

Penny

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