Question

Mary gave her brother 1/4 of her plums and her sister 1/3 of her plums.Mary remained with 20 plums.Caluculate how many plums mary had before sharing and how many more plums her sister received than her brother

Answer 1

Explanation:

Let x be the number plums that Mary had

Number of plums received by her brother = (1/4) of x =(1/4)x

Number of plums received by her sister = (1/3)x

Remaining plums is 20.

Total plums - (plums given to brother + plums given to sister) = 20

`x-((1)/(4)x+(1)/(3)x)=20\\\\x-(1)/(4)x-(1)/(3)x=20\\\\(1*12)/(1*12)x-(1*3)/(4*3)x-(1*4)/(3*4)x=20\\\\(12)/(12)x-(3)/(12)x-(4)/(12)x=20\\\\(12-3-4)/(12)x=20\\\\(5)/(12)x=20\\\\x=20*(12)/(5)\\\\x=4*12\\\\x=48`

Number of plums with Mary = 48

Number of plums received by brother= (1/4)*48 = 12 plums

Number of plums received by sister = (1/3)*48 = 16 plums

16 - 12 = 4

Her sister received 4 plums more than her brother