document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1184970>Question 1184970</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> At first, Ali had 1 3/4 times as many stamps as John had and 1 4/5 times as<BR>\n" );
document.write( "many stamps as Sam had. Later, John gave 1/12 of his stamps to Sam, and Ali <BR>\n" );
document.write( "gave 1/9 of his stamps to Sam. As a result, Sam had 180 stamps in the end.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "a)      Find the ratio of the number of John’s savings to the number of Sam’s stamps at first.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "b)      How many stamps did the three boys have altogether? </SPAN>\n" );
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document.write( "The given information tells us that John had 4/7 as many stamps as Ali and Sam had 5/9 as many as Ali.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "I personally would set the problem up for solving without those ugly fractions.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "I would use the least common multiple of those denominators (63) to set the problem up like this:<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Ali's stamps: 63x<BR>\n" );
document.write( "John's stamps: 36x (4/7 as many as Ali)<BR>\n" );
document.write( "Sam's stamps: 35x (5/9 as many as Ali)<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Then use those starting numbers with the given information:<br><PRE STYLE=\"white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: -moz-pre-wrap; white-space: -pre-wrap; white-space: -o-pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;\">\r\n" );
document.write( "    Ali   John   Sam\r\n" );
document.write( "  --------------------\r\n" );
document.write( "    63x    36x    35x\r\n" );
document.write( "    63x    33x    38x   John gave 1/12 of his stamps (3x) to Sam\r\n" );
document.write( "    56x    33x    45x   Ali gave 1/9 of his stamps (7x) to Sam<br></PRE><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Sam ended up with 180 stamps:<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "45x=180<BR>\n" );
document.write( "x=180/45=4<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "a) Find the ratio of the number of John's stamps to the number of Sam's stamps at first<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "ANSWER: 36x:35x = 36:35<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "b) How many stamps did the three boys have altogether?<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "ANSWER: 63x+36x+35x=134x=134(4)=536<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( " </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</TD></TR></TABLE>\n" );