Question

There are a total of 56 people that play on two teams. When 8 people left the larger team to join the smaller team the number of players on each team was equal. How many players were originally on the larger team?

Answer 1

Since 8 players left the larger team to join the smaller team, the number of players on the larger team was originally 2 × 8 = 16 more than the number of players on the smaller team.

x + x + 16 = 56

2x + 16 = 56

2x = 40

x = 20

There were originally 20 players on the smaller team and 36 players on the larger team.