[dragonwriter]

> I believe there is no god, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why the answer to the first question is “5¢” — could someone help me understand?

Question: "A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? ____cents"

Let b be the cost of the ball in cents. Then b + 100 is the cost of the bat in cents.

  b + (b + 100) = 110
  2b + 100 = 110
  2b = 10
  b = 5

QED.