Billy, Carl and John shared a sum of money. The amount received by Carl was ³₄ the amount of money received by John. After Billy had given $53 to Carl and $27 to John, Carl gave $2 to John. In the end, 3 of them had the same amount of money. Find the difference between the amount of money that Billy and Carl had at first.

	Billy	Carl	John
Before	3 u + 131	3 u	4 u
Change 1	- 53	+ 53
Change 2	- 27		+ 27
Change 3		- 2	+ 2
After	3 u + 51	3 u + 51	4 u + 29

Amount that Carl had in the end = 3 u + 51 

Amount that John had in the end = 4 u + 29

Amount that Billy had at first 
= 3 u + 51 + 53 + 27
= 3 u + 131

Amount that Carl and John had in the end is the same.

3 u + 51 = 4 u + 29
4 u - 3 u = 51 - 29

1 u = 22

Amount that Billy and Carl had in the end is the same.

Amount that Billy had in the end
= 3 u + 51
= 3 x 22 + 51
= 66 + 51
= $117

Amount that Billy had at first
= 117 + 53 + 27
= $197

Difference in the amounts between Billy and Carl at first
= 197 - 66
= $131

Answer(s): $131