Question

Heather, brian, and austin sent a total of 97 messages over their cell phones over the weekend. Heather sent 7 fewer messages than Brian. Austin sent 3 times as many as Heather. How many messages did they each send?

Answer 1

Heather = 18 messages

Brian = 25 messages

Austin = 54 messages

Explanation:

We know that Heather, Brian, and Austin sent a total of 97 messages.

Assuming the number of messages sent by Brian as x, we can say that Heather sent x-7 messages (7 fewer messages than Brian) and Austin sent 3(x-7) messages (3 times as many as Heather).

`(x-7)+x+3(x-7)=97\\\\x-7+x+3x-21=97\\\\5x=97+21+7\\\\5x=125\\\\x=25`

So Brian sent (x) messages = 25 messages,

Heather sent (x-7) messages = 25 - 7 = 18 messages; and

Austin sent 3(x-7) messages = 3(25-7) = 54 messages