Due to rumors that there was a world shortage of chewing gum everyone was stocking up on packs. By the time I'd got to the store, they had sold out ! However, there were two people at the till who had already bought 4 and 5 packs respectively and they kindly offered to share their packs with me. After sharing, we all had the same number of packs each and i paid them for $9 for my packs. How did they share the $9 between them ?

First person takes 1 portion = $3

Second person takes 2 portions = $6

Explanation:

Given that:

Two people had :

First person = 4 packs

Second person = 5 packs

After sharing with another person who has none, all three person now have the same number of packs ;

Hence, the 9 total packs means ;

All 3 persons have : 9/3 = 3 packs each

First person must have given out 1 pack

Second must have given out 2 packs

To share the $9 left by the third person :

$9 is shared into 3 portions : $9 / 3

First person takes 1 portion = $3

Second person takes 2 portions = $6