Question

A box of fruit has four times more peaches than plums.

It also has 3 less nectarines than plums. If the box
contains 21 pieces of fruit, then how many are there of
each?
Please help me with this

Answer 1

The number of plums = 4

The number of peaches = 16

The number of nectarines = 1

Explanation:

Let the number of peaches be = x

Let the number of nectarines be = y

Let the number of plums be = z

A box of fruit has four times more peaches than plums. This means that

The number of peaches = 4 X the number of plums.

i.e x = 4z

The box has 3 fewer nectarines than plums. This means that

Number of nectarines = number of plums - 3

i.e y = z - 3

If the box contains 21 pieces of fruit, this means that if we sum up all the peaches, nectarines, and plums in the box, we will get 21.

Peaches + Nectarines + Plums = 21

4z + z-3 + z = 21

6z =21 +3

z = 24/6

z = 4

Therefore, the number of plums = 4

The number of peaches = 4 X 4 = 16

The number of nectarines = 4 -3 = 1