You have the following information:
- Molly has x lipsticks in her lipsticks collection
- Roxy has 3x lipsticks in her lipsticks collection
- Both collections have 96 lipsticks
In order to find the number of lipsticks Molly has, you write the previous information in an algebraic way, just as follow:
x + 3x = 96 means, the total number of lipsticks is 96. Simplify
4x = 96 divide by 4 both sides
x = 96/4
x = 24
x is the number of lipsticks Molly has, hence, Molly has 24 lipsticks in her collection.