
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
Let $x$ be the amount David spent. Ben spent $x+15$. Since for every dollar Ben spent, David spent 50 cents less, Ben spent $\frac{100}{50}=\frac{2}{1}$ times as much as David, so Ben spent $2x$. Set $2x=x+15$ and solve for $x$ and then calculate the total amount spent.

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
user