Question

sally and martha had the same number postcards. after sally sold 18 of her postcards, martha had 4 times as many postcards as sally. how many postcards did each girl have to begin with?

Answer 1

Sally and Martha initially had 24 postcards each.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let's assume that both Sally and Martha had x number of postcards to begin with.

After Sally sold 18 postcards, she had x - 18 left.

According to the problem, Martha had 4 times as many postcards as Sally after this, so she had 4(x - 18) postcards.

Since both girls had the same number of postcards to begin with, we can set up an equation: x = 4(x - 18).

Solving this equation, we get:
x = 4x - 72
-3x = -72
x = 24

Therefore, both Sally and Martha initially had 24 postcards.

Answer 2

18 times 4 = 72 Both started with 72 Martha sold more