Please HELP with these ratio questions!!! Thanks

[Starwriter]

1. Alex and Ben have money in the ratio 2:5. Alex spends £20 and Ben saves £30. As a result, the ratio of their remaining money becomes 1:2. What was their total initial savings?

2. John and Mary have some money in the ratio 3:4. John spends £10 and Mary saves £20. As a result, the ratio of their remaining money becomes 4:5. What was their total initial savings?

3. Tom and Jerry have money in the ratio 4:7. Tom spends £50 and Jerry saves £30. As a result, the ratio of their remaining money becomes 2:3. What was their total initial savings?

[Aethel]

1) doesn’t make sense at all.

If A:B is going from 2:5 to 2:4 (which is the same as 1:2), then the proportion gap between their monies is narrowing.

But A (who has less to start with) has spent some money
while B (who has more to start with) has saved some!

So the ratio of their cash can only get wider, not narrower!

[solimum]

A has an initial overdraft of £140 which increases to £160
B has an initial overdraft of £350 which decreases to £320

Simples!

Although obviously not what was intended - is this a case of a poor attempt to generate new problems from a standard "model" question by simply changing the numbers without understanding the basic underlying maths? Almost annoying as when you see examples of triangles to calculate areas/ perimeters where the labelled hypotenuse is longer than the sum of the two sides, making the triangle impossible. And yes I have seen that in commercial tutoring materials.

[ToadMum]

A has an initial overdraft of £140 which increases to £160
B has an initial overdraft of £350 which decreases to £320

Simples!

Although obviously not what was intended - is this a case of a poor attempt to generate new problems from a standard "model" question by simply changing the numbers without understanding the basic underlying maths? Almost annoying as when you see examples of triangles to calculate areas/ perimeters where the labelled hypotenuse is longer than the sum of the two sides, making the triangle impossible. And yes I have seen that in commercial tutoring materials.

So one hopes that Starwriter will bring the error to the attention of the publisher / provider in this case and it will be corrected (and for interest, report back what solution to the question they were expecting to be found to the question in itscurrent form).