Question 5
Wrong way
John sold 6 times as many as James. George sold 6 more than James. In all, they sold 54.
It may be hard to make an equation from the given question. But we can do it this way: Since three people in total sold the amount of money, we can divide the total amount by 3.
54 ÷ 3 = 18
Now we know they equally made $18, but they actually did not. So since John's sale was 6 times as James', we can just divide 18 by 6.
18 ÷ 6 = 3
Subtract 3 from 18 to know how much was added back to John. 18 - 3 = 15
15 + 18 = 33
3 + 6 = 9, since George's sale is 6 more (which is plus) than James.
Right Way
We are given John sold 6 times as many as James. How much James has is unknown, so we will give it "
" as a variable.
Divide both sides by 6
So, James has sold $9
9+6=15