7 Year old School question

algebra-precalculuspuzzle

My 7 year old son was given this question as a sort of bonus question and although I managed to solve it using some really awful simultaneous equations I can't help but think there is a simpler more intuitive way to solve it. Afterall, it was given to a 7 year old.

The question is this:

Amir, Brett and Carly share some money.
Amir gets a third of the money.
Carly gets 5 times the as much as Brett.
Carly gets £84 more than Amir
How much money does Brett get?

Is there a really simple way to solve this? Any help is much appreciated

Best Answer

An attempt to solve it with simple words ...

Brett gets $1$ part.

Carly gets $5$ parts

Carly and Brett get $6$ parts.

As Amir gets one third of the total, it is not difficult to derive that Amir gets $3$ parts.

Carly gets $2$ parts more than Amir: therefore a part corresponds to $42$ pounds.

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