SOLUTION: There are two shepherds talking amongst themselves. One says to the other, "Give me one of your sheep so that I may have twice as many as you,", but the other shepherd replies, "No

Question 773437: There are two shepherds talking amongst themselves. One says to the other, "Give me one of your sheep so that I may have twice as many as you,", but the other shepherd replies, "No, how about you give me one sheep so that we may have the same number of sheep." How many sheeps did each shepherd have? Hint: Set up a system of linear equations to solve and set a variable for each shepherd.
Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
here are two shepherds talking amongst themselves.
One says to the other, "Give me one of your sheep so that I may have twice as many as you,",
a + 1 = 2(b-1)
a + 1 = 2b - 2
a - 2b = -3
:
but the other shepherd replies, "No, how about you give me one sheep so that we may have the same number of sheep."
a - 1 = b + 1
a - b = 2
:
How many sheep did each shepherd have?
a - b = 2
a -2b = -3
----------------Subtraction eliminates a, find b
b = 5 sheep
then
a - 5 = 2
a = 7 sheep
:
You can check this in the original statements
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