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Question 646420: Mother left some plums on a plate for her 3 sons. First son ate 1/3 of all plums and went to school. Second son thought that his brothers didn't have any plums yet, so he ate 1/3 of the remaining plums and went to school. Third son did the same as second, and there were 8 plums left on the plate. How many plums did mother leave?
Answer by stanbon(75887)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Mother left some plums on a plate for her 3 sons. First son ate 1/3 of all plums and went to school. Second son thought that his brothers didn't have any plums yet, so he ate 1/3 of the remaining plums and went to school. Third son did the same as second, and there were 8 plums left on the plate. How many plums did mother leave?
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Let the original # of plums be "x".
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start: x
after 1st son ate 1/3: 2/3x
after 2nd son ate 1/3: (2/3)(2/3)x = (4/9)x
After 3rd son ate 1/3: (2/3)(4/9)x = (8/27)x
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Equation:
(8/27)x = 8
(1/27)x = 1
x = 27 (original unber of plums)
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Cheers,
Stan H.
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