Question 1185245
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He bought 7 pens and 9 highlighters; each pen cost 3 times as much as a highlighter.  So what he spent was equivalent to 7(3)+9=30 highlighters, or 30/3=10 pens.<br>
He spent 1/4 of his money on that purchase, so he has 3/4 of his money left. When he spent 2/3 of his remaining money on more pens, he spent 2/3 of 3/4 of his original amount of money.<br>
2/3 of 3/4 of his original amount of money is 1/2 of his original money.  That is twice as much as he spent on the first purchase (1/2 is twice as much as 1/4), so this second purchase was enough to buy 2*10=20 more pens.<br>
So the total number of pens he bought was 7+20 = 27.<br>
ANSWER: 27<br>