here's another word prob

[dolor]

I'm just full of 'em...

Bob gave 4/5 of his pencils to Barbara. Then he gave 2/3 of the remaining pencils to Bonnie. If he ended up with 10 pencils, with how many pencils did he start?

[jemidiah]

10 pencils = 1/3 of what he had before he gave some to Bonnie, so he 30 pencils = 1/5 of what he had before he gave some to barbara, meaning he had 150 total.

[DiGiTaIErRoR]

10/x = 1/3

x=30

30/x = 1/5

x=150

:lol:

[trasogus]

Yeah, everything is correct, I just want to summarize the situation:

x - all pencils that he had

(4/5)x - it's what he gave to furst girl

x - (4/5)x - it what he had left after

[x -( 4/5)x] * (2/3) - is what he gave to second girl

so we'll get:

x - (4/5)x - [x - (4/5)x] * (2/3) = 10
x - (4/5)x - [(2/3)x - (8/15)x] = 10
x - (4/5)x -(2/3)x + (8/15)x = 10
x*(1 - 4/5 - 2/3 + 8/15) = 10
x*(1 - 12/15 - 10/15 + 8/15) = 10
x*(1 - 14/15) = 10
(1/15)x = 10
x = 150


That's maybe a long way, but it generalizes the situation and puts all in perspective where everything is connected to each other. ;) ;) ;)

P.S.
And that’s the only acceptable way in math and programming IMHO :D