Three women, Lynn, Min and Eva went on a shopping spree. 30% of Lynn's spending was equal to ¹₅ of Min's spending. Eva's spending was  60% less than Min's. If Min spent $279 less, she would spend the same amount of money as Eva.

1. Find the ratio of Lynn's spending to Min's to Eva's.
2. How much did Eva spend?

Lynn	Min	Eva
2x5	3x5
	5x3	2x3
10 u	15 u	6 u

(a)
30%= ³⁰₁₀₀ = ³₁₀
³₁₀ of Lynn's spending is equal to ¹₅ of Min's spending. Make the numerators the same.  LCM of 3 and 1 is 3.

310 of Lynn's spending = 15 of Min's spending
310 of Lynn's spending =1x35x3 of Min's spending
310 of Lynn's spending = 315 of Min's spending

Lynn : Min
10 : 15
2 : 3

Eva's spending in percent when compared to Min's
= 100% - 60%
= 40%

Min : Eva
100 : 40
5 : 2

Min's spending is the repeated identity.  Make Min's spending the same.  LCM of 3 and 5 is 15.

Lynn : Min : Eva
10 : 15 : 6

(b)

	Lynn	Min	Eva
Before	10 u	15 u	6 u
Change		- 9 u
After	10 u	6 u	6 u

Additional amount that Min would have to spend less to be the same as Eva
= 15 u - 6 u
= 9 u

9 u = 279

1 u = 279 ÷ 9 = 31

Amount that Eva spent
= 6 u
= 6 x 31
= $186 

Answer(s): (a) 10 : 15 : 6; (b) $186