SOLUTION: Mark had an equal number of blue and red marbles. He gave away 5/9 of his
blue marbles and sold 49 red marbles. In the end, he was left with 1/3 of the
marbles. How many marbles
Question 1188867: Mark had an equal number of blue and red marbles. He gave away 5/9 of his
blue marbles and sold 49 red marbles. In the end, he was left with 1/3 of the
marbles. How many marbles did he have at first? Answer by VFBundy(438) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Number of red marbles (at start) = n
Number of blue marbles (at start) = n
Number of marbles remaining after giveaways and sales:
4/9(n) + (n - 49) = 1/3(2n)
4/9(n) + (n - 49) = 2/3(n)
(n - 49) = 2/3(n) - 4/9(n)
-49 = 2/3(n) - 4/9(n) - n
-49 = 6/9(n) - 4/9(n) - 9/9(n)
-49 = -7/9(n)
-49(-9/7) = n
n = 63
Number of red marbles (at start) = n = 63
Number of blue marbles (at start) = n = 63 Mark had a total of 126 marbles at the start.
