SOLUTION: Susan bought some towels.2/5 of them were pink and 1/4 of them were blue. the remaining 28 towels were white. how many more pink towel than blue towels did she buy?

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Question 848477: Susan bought some towels.2/5 of them were pink and 1/4 of them were blue. the remaining 28 towels were white. how many more pink towel than blue towels did she buy?
Answer by josgarithmetic(39620) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The 28 white towels is a certain fraction of the whole set of towels. This fraction seems unknown but is is solvable.

The whole ONE set of towels is 1. Call this w.
highlight_green%282%2F5%2B1%2F4%2Bw=1%29.

STRATEGY
the strategy is find the fraction w, and then use w and 28 to find the quantity of the whole set of towels. Take 2/5 of this set and take 1/4 of this set, and then find the difference.

w=1-2%2F5-1%2F4
w=%2820-8-5%29%2F20
w=7%2F20 the fraction of the set which is white towels.

Let Q = the number of towels in the one set.
%287%2F20%29Q=28, meaning this fraction of the set is 28 white towels.
Q=28%2820%2F7%29
highlight%28Q=80%29------The set of towels contains 80 towels.

PINK TOWELS: %282%2F5%29%2A80=32
BLUE TOWELS: %281%2F4%29%2A80=20
MORE PINK THAN BLUE: 12