Daniel bets on three games. In the first game, he lost three notes. In the second game, he lost 7 notes. In the third game, he won 2 notes and another £400. In total, Daniel left with the same amount of money he started with.
What is the value of each note?
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Daniel bets on three games. In the first game, he lost three notes. In the second game, he lost 7 notes. In the third game, he won 2 notes and another £400. In total, Daniel left with the same amount of money he started with.
What is the value of each note?
To solve this problem, we'll follow these steps:
Now, let's work through each step:
Step 1: Define the total outcome equation given the losses and gains.
Daniel starts with an unknown amount equivalent to his final amount.
In the first game, he loses 3 notes, resulting in a loss of .
In the second game, he loses 7 notes, resulting in a loss of .
In the third game, he wins 2 notes, resulting in a gain of , and he also wins an additional £400.
We equate the total changes to start with zero (final balance being the start):
Step 2: Simplify and solve for .
Combine like terms:
Thus, the equation is:
Isolate by subtracting 400 from both sides:
Divide by to solve for :
Therefore, each note is worth .
The value of each note is, therefore, .
£
\( x+x=8 \)
When you start and end with the same amount, the net change is zero! All the gains and losses must cancel out perfectly, which is why we set the equation equal to 0.
Losses are negative (money going out) and gains are positive (money coming in). Think of it like a bank account - withdrawals are negative, deposits are positive!
Note values can't be negative in real life! If you get a negative answer, check your signs. Make sure losses have negative signs and gains have positive signs.
Yes! You could set up the equation as: (total losses = total gains). Both methods give the same answer: £50.
Combining like terms simplifies the equation and makes it easier to solve. Instead of dealing with three separate note terms, we get one: .
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