document.write( "Question 1143846: At first, Josh and May had some marbles each. After Josh gave 1/4 of his marbles to May. May had 3 times as many marbles as him. May then gave Josh 12 marbles. In the end, each of them had an equal number of marbles. How many marbles did May have at first? Please help \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #764773 by ikleyn(52790) $\"\"$ $\"About$

You can put this solution on YOUR website!
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " After seeing the solutions from two our respectful tutors, you, probably, have a wish to see something more simple.\r
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document.write( "From the condition, it is clear that the number of marbles Josh had initially, is multiple of 4.\r\n" );
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document.write( "Let x be  1/4  of Josh's marbles, that he had initially.\r\n" );
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document.write( "So, Josh had initially 4x marbles; at the first exchange, he gave 1/4 of it, i.e. x marbles, to May.\r\n" );
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document.write( "Thus after first exchange, Josh left with 3x marbles, while May had 3 times 3x marbles, i.e. 9x marbles.\r\n" );
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document.write( "After the second exchange, Josh has (3x+12) marbles, while May has (9x-12) marbles.\r\n" );
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document.write( "These amounts are the same, so you have this simple equation\r\n" );
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document.write( "    3x + 12 = 9x - 12.\r\n" );
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document.write( "You can EASILY solve it :\r\n" );
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document.write( "    12 + 12 = 9x - 3x,   or   24 = 6x,   which implies  x= 24/6 = 4.\r\n" );
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document.write( "Thus Josh had initially 4x = 16 marbles.\r\n" );
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document.write( "After first exchange, May had  9x = 9*4 = 36 marbles; but  4 of them came from Josh  (! remember,  x= 4 !),   \r\n" );
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document.write( "so May had initially  36 - 4 = 32 marbles.    ANSWER\r\n" );
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Solved.\r
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