Question

PLEASE HELP! Bryan and his son, and Elton and his son all went fishing. Bryan caught as many fish as his son and Elton caught three times as many fish as his son. All together, they caught 25 fish. How many fish did Bryan catch?

Answer 1

Let the number of fishes caught by Bryan's son be x. Since Bryan caught as many fish as his son, Bryan caught x fishes

Let the number of fishes caught by Elton's son be y. Since Elton caught three times as many fish as his son, Elton caught 3y fishes

All together, they caught 25 fish

This can be represented by the equation:

x + x + y + 3y = 25

2x + 4y = 25

2x = 25 - 4y

x = (25 - 4y)/2

The number of fish caught by Bryan is half of the difference between the total fish caught and four times the number of fish caught by Elton's son.