Answer:
50 sweets
Explanation:
Let's work through the problem step by step:
The student starts with x sweets.
She gives away 20 sweets to her friends, so she is left with (x - 20) sweets.
One third of the remainder is equal to one fifth of the original number of sweets. In other words, (1/3)(x - 20) = (1/5)x.
To solve for x, we can start by multiplying both sides of the equation by 15 (the least common multiple of 3 and 5) to eliminate the fractions:
5(x - 20) = 3x
5x - 100 = 3x
2x = 100
x = 50
Therefore, the original number of sweets was 50.