To determine Marco's starting balance, let's follow these steps:
1. List the expenses and their costs:
- T-shirt: \[tex]$20
- Gas: \$[/tex]22
- Movie: \[tex]$13
- Video game: \$[/tex]39
- Jeans: \[tex]$34
- Hat: \$[/tex]15
- Books: \[tex]$31
2. Calculate the total expenses:
\[
\text{Total expenses} = 20 + 22 + 13 + 39 + 34 + 15 + 31
\]
Adding these values together:
\[
20 + 22 = 42
\]
\[
42 + 13 = 55
\]
\[
55 + 39 = 94
\]
\[
94 + 34 = 128
\]
\[
128 + 15 = 143
\]
\[
143 + 31 = 174
\]
Hence, the total expenses are \(\$[/tex]174\).
3. Calculate the starting balance:
Marco's bank statement shows an ending balance of \[tex]$81. To determine the starting balance, we add the total expenses to the ending balance. This is because the starting balance should have included all the expenses and resulted in the ending balance after subtracting those expenses.
\[
\text{Starting balance} = \text{Ending balance} + \text{Total expenses}
\]
Substitute the values we know:
\[
\text{Starting balance} = 81 + 174
\]
\[
\text{Starting balance} = 255
\]
4. Conclusion:
Based on the calculations, Marco's starting balance was \(\$[/tex]255\).
So, the correct answer is:
a. \$255
