Question

Stacey baked 48 more cupcakes than Tammy.After Tammy ate 12 cupcakes, Stacey had 4 times as many cupcakes as Tammy. How many cupcakes did Stacey have?

Answer 1

80

Explanation:

If we assume that Tammy ate 12 of the cupcakes she baked, we can write an equation relating the numbers of cupcakes.

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setup

Let S represent the number of cupcakes Stacey baked. Then S-48 is the number Tammy baked. After Tammy ate 12 of her own cupcakes, the number she had was (S -48) -12 = (S -60). Stacey had 4 times this number:

S = 4(S -60)

solution

240 = 3S . . . . . . simplify, add 240-S

80 = S . . . . . . . divide by 3

Stacey had 80 cupcakes.

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Additional comment

Tammy had 80-48 = 32. After Tammy ate 12, she had 20. Then Stacey had 80/20 = 4 times as many.

If Tammy ate 12 of Stacey's cupcakes, then Stacey started with 60.