Answer: Nicky = 98 emails; David = 49 emails
Explanation:
Let the number of emails received by Nicky be denoted by a.
Since we are informed that David gets half as many e-mails a day as his wife Nicky does. This can be written as: a/2
Number of number of emails received by Nicky = a
Number of number of emails received by David = a/2 = 0.5a
Together they have a total of 147 e-mails for today. This will be:
a + 0.5a = 147
1.5a = 147
Divide both side by 1.5
1.5a/1.5 = 147/1.5
a = 98
Nicky got 98 emails
David gets: a/2 = 98/2 = 49 emails.