SOLUTION: five friends met. each of them gave a cupcake to each of the others. they then ate all the cupcakes they had been given. as a result, the total number of cupcakes they had decrease

Algebra ->  Coordinate Systems and Linear Equations  -> Linear Equations and Systems Word Problems -> SOLUTION: five friends met. each of them gave a cupcake to each of the others. they then ate all the cupcakes they had been given. as a result, the total number of cupcakes they had decrease      Log On


   

Question 1137120: five friends met. each of them gave a cupcake to each of the others. they then ate all the cupcakes they had been given. as a result, the total number of cupcakes they had decreased by a half. how many cupcakes did five friends have at the start?
Answer by greenestamps(13203) About Me  (Show Source):
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Each of the five friends gets four cupcakes from the others.

Each of them then eats all the cupcakes he was given; that means each of the 5 friends ate 4 cupcakes -- a total of 20 cupcakes.

If eating those decreased the total number of cupcakes by half, then the total number of cupcakes at the beginning was 40.

ANSWER: There were 40 cupcakes total among the 5 friends at the start.