Question

Ann, Ben, and Cindy were eating Skittles. The ratio of the numbers of candies they ate is 5:5:7. If Cindy ate 30 Skittles less than Ann and Ben together, what is the total number of Skittles the three of them ate?

Answer 1

170 skittles

Explanation:

Ann and Ben together ate 5+5=10 ratio units of Skittles. That is 10-7 = 3 more ratio units than the number Cindy ate. That difference of 3 ratio units corresponds to a difference of 30 Skittles, so each ratio unit must stand for 10 Skittles.

The total number of ratio units is 5+5+7 = 17, so the total number of Skittles is ...

... 17 × 10 = 170