Tom and his father picked 87 apples from their backyard apple tree. After they brought the apples indoors, Tom said: “Father, if you give me 6 apples from your basket and I put them in my basket, then I will have half as many apples as you will have.”How many apples did Tom pick?

Solution:

Tom: x apples

Father: y apples

x+y = 87

2(x+6) =y-6

we calculate

x= 23

y= 64

so Tom picked 23 apples