Question

3 boys shared a box of chocolate. The first boy got 3/8 of the total and the 2nd boy got 2/5 of the remainder and the 3rd boy got 9. How many chocolates were in the box and how many did the boy with the smallest share get?​

Answer 1

1. there were 24 chocolates in the box at first.

2. the boy with the smallest share received 6 chocolates.

Step-by-step explanation:

let's represent the number of chocolates in the box with 8x.

the first boy got ⅜ × 8x = 3x chocolates. now, there are 8x - 3x = 5x chocolates remaining.

the second boy got ⅖ × 5x = 2x chocolates. now, there are 5x - 2x = 3x chocolates remaining.

3x = 9 chocolates

x = 3 chocolates

since the original number of chocolates was represented by 8x, we now know that there were 8 × 3 = 24 chocolates in the box at first.

the first boy got 9 chocolates, the second boy got 6 chocolates and the last boy got 9 chocolates. thus, the boy with the smallest share got 6 chocolates.

i hope this helps! :D