Question

Emma and Holly have 39 soccer trophies

between them. Emma has 7 fewer
trophies than Holly. How many trophies
does each girl have?

Answer 1

Let's assume that Holly has x trophies. When you don't know the amount someone has you can always use x in your equation because later on in the calculation you'll figure it out anyways

Emma has 7 fewer trophies than Holly. So Emma has x - 7 trophies.

Together, they have 27 trophies. So we can write an equation:

x + (x-7) = 27

Simplifying and solving for x, we get:

2x - 7 = 27

2x = 34

x = 17

So Holly has 17 trophies, and Emma has 17 - 7 = 10 trophies in total!

Answer 2

Let's assume the number of trophies Holly has as "x".

According to the problem, Emma has 7 fewer trophies than Holly, which means Emma has (x-7) trophies.

The problem states that the total number of trophies they have together is 39. So we can set up the equation:

x + (x-7) = 39

Simplifying this equation, we get:

2x - 7 = 39

Adding 7 to both sides, we get:

2x = 46

Dividing both sides by 2, we get:

x = 23

So, Holly has 23 trophies and Emma has 23 - 7 = 16 trophies.

Therefore, Holly has 23 trophies and Emma has 16 trophies.