My Math Forum Simple question about rent split

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 December 1st, 2017, 09:10 AM #1 Newbie   Joined: Dec 2017 From: uk Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Simple question about rent split If the rent for a house is £895 per month and is being rented by 2 people. One is accepted to pay £20 more per week, what is going to be monthly payment for each of those people? Is it going to be £407.50 for one and £487.50 for the other OR £367.50 and £527.50 for the other? I'm pretty sure it's the first statement. The second has been calculated by my mate who is arguing that £895/2 = 447.50 and £447.50 - £80 = £367.50 and 447.50 + £50 = £527.50. My logic is £895 - 80 = £815 £815 / 2 = £407.50 £407.50 + £80 = £487.50 for one and the rest for the other. Last edited by lazio; December 1st, 2017 at 09:14 AM.
 December 1st, 2017, 09:33 AM #2 Senior Member   Joined: Dec 2015 From: Earth Posts: 248 Thanks: 27 First $\displaystyle X+Y=895$ and $\displaystyle X=Y+20\cdot 4=Y+80$ $\displaystyle 2Y+80=895$ $\displaystyle Y=407.5$ The first statement is true
 December 1st, 2017, 09:41 AM #3 Newbie   Joined: Dec 2017 From: uk Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 That's exactly what I mean. How can I in the simplest way explain this? My mate doesn't understand algebra, I assume. He doesn't understand the fact that you shouldn't divide the whole amount and -80 from one amount and +80 from the other but -40 and +40 so the gap could equal £80. Last edited by skipjack; December 1st, 2017 at 10:18 AM.
 December 1st, 2017, 10:26 AM #4 Global Moderator   Joined: Dec 2006 Posts: 19,713 Thanks: 1806 Both methods can be made to work, but I would first question the assumption that you both make that a month contains 4 weeks.
 December 1st, 2017, 02:38 PM #5 Senior Member   Joined: May 2016 From: USA Posts: 1,148 Thanks: 479 If you work from the premise that a month has 4 weeks, there is a simple way to explain it. An even split would be $\dfrac{895}{2} = 447.5.$ No difficulty there. Now compute $447.5 + 40 = 487.5.$ Straight forward, no algebra. And compute $447.5 - 40 = 407.5.$ So if you pay 487.5 and your mate pays 407.5 that sums to $487.5 + 407.5 = 895.0.$ Simple arithmetic. And what is the difference in the rent paid? $487.5 - 407.5 = 80 = 4 \times 20.$ Simple arithmetic. If you ignore how you got the answer and just explain why the answer pays the rent and has you paying 80£ more, all you need is very basic arithmetic. So this is the correct answer if what your agreement was REALLY involved a differential of 80 quid a month. But it is not correct if your agreement REALLY involved a differential of 20 quid a week because the answer calculated assumes that there are only 48 weeks in the year when in fact there are just about exactly 52. If the latter is the case, then here is what is called for. Your monthly payment $= 490.83.$ Your mate's monthly payment $= 895 - 490.83 = 404.17.$ Now you are paying together $490.83 + 404.17 = 895.$ And you are paying $490.83 - 404.17 = 86.66$ more each month. That makes sense because there are a bit more than 4 weeks in the average month. Now let's how it works out over a year. Annually, you pay $12 \times 490.83 = 5889.96$ Annually, your mate pays $12 \times 404.17= 4850.04.$ Notice the sum totals $10740 = 12 \times 895.$ In total, you pay $5889.06 - 4850.04 = 1039.02$ more in a year. And $52 \times 20 = 1040.$ At the end of the year you owe him a quid.
January 30th, 2018, 12:44 PM   #6
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Quote:
 Originally Posted by lazio If the rent for a house is £895 per month and is being rented by 2 people. One is accepted to pay £20 more per week, what is going to be monthly payment for each of those people? Is it going to be £407.50 for one and £487.50 for the other OR £367.50 and £527.50 for the other? I'm pretty sure it's the first statement. The second has been calculated by my mate who is arguing that £895/2 = 447.50 and £447.50 - £80 = £367.50 and 447.50 + £50 = £527.50.
I presume that last should be 447.50+ £80= £527.50.
But 527.50- 367.50= £160, not £80. To get one that is £80 more than the other you need to add and subtract £80/2= £40 to and from £447.50.

Then you would get £447.50- £40= £407.50 and £447.50+ £40= £487.50 as in the first method.

Quote:
 My logic is £895 - 80 = £815 £815 / 2 = £407.50 £407.50 + £80 = £487.50 for one and the rest for the other.

 January 30th, 2018, 01:19 PM #7 Math Team   Joined: Oct 2011 From: Ottawa Ontario, Canada Posts: 13,305 Thanks: 935 Round up the damn rent to 900. 410 + 490 = 900. Flip a coin to see who gets the extra 5 !!

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