Question

Malachy, Sushil and Fiona share some sweets in the ratio 4:3:3. Malachy gets 8 more sweets than Fiona. How many sweets are there altogether?

Answer 1

80 sweets

Explanation:

In ratio units, Malachy gets 4-3 = 1 more than Fiona. The total number of ratio units is 4+3+3 = 10, which is 10 times that difference. This means the total number of sweets must be 10 times the difference of 8 sweets between what Malachy got and what Fiona got.

There are 8×10 = 80 sweets altogether.

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Additional comment

Since each ratio unit stands for 8 sweets, we know the distribution is ...

• Malachy: 32
• Sushil: 24
• Fiona: 24

for a total of 32+24+24 = 80.