SOLUTION: Mary and Joe are siblings. They inherit paintings. Joe takes three paintings to keep. Mary took one-fourth the remaining paintings. There are six paintings now left. How many paint

Question 649263: Mary and Joe are siblings. They inherit paintings. Joe takes three paintings to keep. Mary took one-fourth the remaining paintings. There are six paintings now left. How many paintings did they inherit in total.
I know how to work backwards where the 6 + 2 + 3 = 11
6 is the remainder, 2 is a quarter of the remainder which was 8 and 3 is what Joe took.
I need assistance with creating a formula for this word problem. Thank you!
Answer by MathTherapy(10555) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Mary and Joe are siblings. They inherit paintings. Joe takes three paintings to keep. Mary took one-fourth the remaining paintings. There are six paintings now left. How many paintings did they inherit in total.
I know how to work backwards where the 6 + 2 + 3 = 11
6 is the remainder, 2 is a quarter of the remainder which was 8 and 3 is what Joe took.
I need assistance with creating a formula for this word problem. Thank you!

Let the amount of paintings they inherited be P

After Joe took 3, P - 3 remained

Mary then took of remainder, or

Therefore, remainder after Joe took his, minus of remainder after Joe took his, equals the final remainder, OR

------ Multiplying by LCD, 4

4P - 12 - P + 3 = 24

3P - 9 = 24

3P = 33

P, or amount of paintings they inherited = , or

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