Question

sam had a total of 80 foreign stamps amd local stamps combined. after giving away 1/3 of his foreign stamos and 10 local stamps he had an equal number left. how many stamps did they have in the beginning

Answer 1

Sam initially had 42 foreign stamps and 38 local stamps.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let's solve this problem step by step:

Let's assume that Sam had x foreign stamps initially.

Since Sam had a total of 80 foreign and local stamps combined, he must have had 80 - x local stamps initially.

After giving away 1/3 of his foreign stamps, Sam is left with (2/3)x foreign stamps.

He also gave away 10 local stamps, so he is left with 80 - x - 10 local stamps.

According to the problem, Sam had an equal number of foreign and local stamps left after giving them away. Therefore, we can set up the following equation:

(2/3)x = 80 - x - 10

Simplifying the equation, we have: 2x/3 + x = 70

Multiplying both sides of the equation by 3 to get rid of the fraction, we have: 2x + 3x = 210

Combining like terms, we have: 5x = 210

Dividing both sides of the equation by 5, we have: x = 42

Therefore, Sam initially had 42 foreign stamps. Since he had a total of 80 stamps, he also had 80 - 42 = 38 local stamps initially.

Answer 2

Call x the number of foreign stamps and y the number of local stamps. We write equations: x+y=80 2x/3=y-10 Adding ten to the last equation, we have: y=2x/3+10 Substituting this for y in the first equation, we have: 5x/3+10=80 Subtracting ten, we have: 5x/3=70 Multiplying by 3/5, we see that x=42, and y=80-42=38, so there are 42 foreign stamps and 38 local stamps.