Question

19. Gemma has three less than two-thirds the number of fish that Polly owns, Gemma has 15 fish. How many

does Polly own? Show all work necessary to justify your answer.

Answer 1

Polly has 27 fish

Explanation:

Polly's Fish= P

Gemma's Fish = G

so the equation to find either's amount of fish is G=
`(2)/(3)`P - 3

But since we know Gemmas amount of fish we can change G to be 15

15= 2/3 P- 3

then add 3 to both sides to get 2/3 P by itself

18= 2/3 P

and since P is being multiplied by 2/3 we have to divide both sides by 2/3 and if you want to divide by a fraction then you just multiply by the reciprocal ( flip the numerator and the denominator)

then you have

`(3)/(2)` x
`(18)/(1)` =
`(2)/(3)` x
`(3)/(2)` P

which simplifies to

54/2 = 6/6 P

which further simplifies to

27 = 1P or 27=P

So P=27 which means polly has 27 fish