(This is why I'm guessing the Obama Twitter account will be dark for the duration of his Presidency.)

Aw, that's a shame. I wanna see entries like:

PresObamaRox playing foosball and fixing democracy. Foosball!

Divide by seven to figure how much per day (minus any fees that should be split evenly) Divide that by three (How much the 3 people owe per day) Then by 2 (how much the 2 owe for the 2 days they used it).

I think the greater concern is that someone could hack into president@whitehouse.gov and start WWIII. (Which isn't possible if everyone knows the president doesn't use email.)

That seems equally unlikely to me, in the real world. I know it's possible, but still.

We rented a car for 7 days (Saturday to Saturday) for a total of $387. 3 people shared that car for 3 days. 2 of those people then shared it for 1 day. And 1 of those people had it alone for the remaining 3 days. How much does each person owe?

OK, you could either figure out the cost per day, and then divide each day by the number of people, OR you could figure out the person-days: 3x3=9, 2x1=2, 1x3=3, total is 14. Then divide the total by 14 and charge each person for how many days they used the car.

lisah, this is what I think should be correct:

Per day cost of the car: $55.30
For the three people sharing: $18.43 each
For the two people sharing: $27.65 each
For the one person: $55.30

Divide by seven to figure how much per day (minus any fees that should be split evenly) Divide that by three (How much the 3 people owe per day) Then by 2 (how much the 2 owe for the 2 days they used it).

Yeah, i can't make it work out. I keep stumbling over how many days/people etc. It makes me panicky! Serious elementary school math trauma happened when math teacher called me out in front of everybody for not being able to work out a problem on the board. He said "if you can't cut the mustard you'll have to go back and ketchup" and made me finish the year in the less advanced math class. For real. TRAUMATIZED!

Just shift the time into people usage days (PUD)instead of car days. (3 people x 3 days) + (2 people x 1) + (1 person x 3 days) = 14 PUD. Then divide 387 by the 14 PUD, so each PUD costs $27.64. Finally, multiply that number for each day a person got use of the car.

Person 1 used it for 3 days only: 3 x $27.64 = $82.92
Person 2 used it for 4 days: 4 x $27.64 = $110.56
Person 3 used it for 7 days: 7 x $27.64 = $193.48

Total: $386.96

I think that's fair.

ETA: Yup, inevitable triple x-post in this crowd.

ETA: Yup, inevitable triple x-post in this crowd.

haha that's why I brought the problem here! Thanks you guys!!!

Ugh, that reminds me I still owe some money for my last group vacation.

Heh. And I got here too late to help with the math. Darn. That's the kind of word problem I like on standardized tests. Becauase I'm a freak. Clearly.

Ugh, that reminds me I still owe some money for my last group vacation.

aww sorry! We had a crazy good deal staying in my friend's parents' timeshare condo situation. The car was our biggest and most complicated, expense.