Based on the information given in the problem, if you consider deposits as positive numbers and extractions as negative ones, you have the following expressions:
- Bill took $9.50
- 9.50
- Larry deposited twice the amount Bill took:
2*(9.50) = +19.00
- Chris deposited four times as much as Larry did:
4*(19.00) = +76.00
- Melinda took half the amount that Chris deposited:
- 1/2 * (76.00) = - 38.00
- Eddie took 9.50 less than Melinda:
- ( 38.00 - 9.50) = - (28.50) = -28.50
Then, by considering the signs of the different amounts of money you obtain:
-9.50 + 19.00 + 76.00 - 38.00 - 28.50 = 19.00
Hence, you can conclude that the amount of money in the safe increases by $19.00