Question

On October 16, the Moore family received 23 pieces of mail, consisting of ads, magazines, bills, and letters. If they received three more magazines than bills, five more letters than magazines, and the same number of ads as bills, how many ads did they receive?

Answer 1

The Moore family received 3 ads. By setting up equations for each type of mail and using substitution, we calculated that there were 3 bills, which is equal to the number of ads they received.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve how many ads the Moore family received, let's define the quantities with variables. Let m represent the number of magazines, b represent the number of bills, l represent the number of letters, and a represent the number of ads. Based on the given information, we have:

• m = b + 3
• l = m + 5
• a = b
• m + b + l + a = 23

We can substitute the first three equations into the fourth to find the number of ads. By substituting m as b + 3 and l as (b + 3) + 5, we get:

(b + 3) + b + ((b + 3) + 5) + b = 23

Simplifying this equation:

4b + 11 = 23

4b = 23 - 11

4b = 12

b = 3

Since the number of ads is equal to the number of bills, the Moore family received 3 ads.