Question

Joseph put candles on a cake.

He lit ⅓ of those candles.
Then he lit 5 more of the candles on the cake.
As a result, exactly ½ of the candles on the cake were lit.
What was the total number of candles on the cake?

Answer 1

There are 30 candles in total on the cake

There was 1/3 lit and after lighting 5 more 1/2 of the candles were lit

So 5 candles is the difference between 1/3 of all candles and 1/2 of all candles the difference between those two is 1/6 therefor 5 candles is 1/6 of the total candles in the cake

We take 5 x 6 and get 30 for the total number of candles on the cake