Problema Solution
0. A mother has some pieces of candy to split among her children. She first takes 3 pieces
of candy for herself, and then she evenly divides the rest among her 4 children. If each
child receives 6 pieces of candy, how many pieces of candy did the mother have to start
with?
(a) Write the equation that describes this situation
Answer provided by our tutors
let 'x' represent the number of pieces of candy the mother had in the beginning
She first takes 3 pieces of candy for herself and then she evenly divides the rest among her 4 children:
this means that there are x - 3 candies left, and then they are divided evenly among 5 children thus each child will receive
(x - 3)/4 candies
We also know what each child received 6 pieces:
(x - 3)/4 = 6
by solving the equation we find:
x = 27 pieces
click here to see the step by step solution of the equation: