Question

Wiremu has some lollies. His brother has 5 more than he has. They are both given another 3 lollies, and then the product of the numbers of lollies they each have is 150. How many lollies did Wiremu start with?​

Answer 1

• - Wiremu originally had W lollies
• - His brother had W + 5 lollies originally
• - After 3 more each, Wiremu had W + 3 lollies
• - And his brother had W + 8 lollies
• - Setting their product equal to 150 gives:
• - (W + 3)(W + 8) = 150
• - Simplifying:
• - W^2 + 11W + 24 = 150
• - W^2 + 11W - 126 = 0
• - Factoring:
• - (W - 7)(W + 18) = 0
• - Since lollies can't be negative, the solution is W = 7