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Let F be the set and the number of those who complained of fever (F = 70);
S be the set and the number of those who complained of stomach ache (S = 50);
I be the set and the number of those who wee injured (I = 30).
Do not be worried that I denoted by the same symbol the set and the number: I made it for simplicity,
and you always can distinct from the context what I am talking about.
Let FS be the intersection of the sets F and S and the number of elements in this set at the same time.
Let FI be the intersection of the sets F and I and the number of elements in this set at the same time.
Let SI be the intersection of the sets S and I and the number of elements in this set at the same time.
Let FSI = x be the intersection of the sets F, S and I and the number of elements in this intersection at the same time.
I called the last quantity as "x", since it is our major unknown in this problem.
From the elementary theory of finite sets, we have this equation
100 = F + S + I - FS - FI - SI + x. (1)
From the given part of the condition, we have this equation
(FS-x) + (FI-x) + (SI-x) = 44. (2)
Now, we can re-write equation (1) in this form
100 = 70 + 50 + 30 - (FS-x) - (FI-x) - (SI-x) -3x + x =
= 150 - [(FS-x) + (FI-x) + (SI-x)] - 2x = 150 - 44 - 2x = 106 - 2x,
which gives us
2x = 106 - 100 = 6.
Hence, x = 3.
Answer. The number of patients who had all three complaints was 3.
For the key equation (1) see my lessons
- Counting elements in sub-sets of a given finite set
and especially
- Advanced problems on counting elements in sub-sets of a given finite set
in this site.
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Regarding the note by @greenestamps in his post, my comment is THIS :
He has his right to have his own opinion, but in the given case it is W R O N G.