Question

Sophia has 3 stickers for every 2 stickers Ethan has. If Sophia gives Ethan 16 of her stickers than Ethan will have twice as many stickers as Sophia. How many stickers do Sophia and Ethan have altogether

Answer 1

40

Explanation:

Let number of stickers Sophia has be "x" and number of stickers Ethan has be "y"

Now,

Sophia has 3 for every 2 ethan has, that means

3x = 2y

When sophia gives 16, she will have:

3x - 16

Ethan, after getting 16, will have:

2y + 16

This trade will make Ethan to have TWICE, so we can write:

2(3x-16) = 2y + 16

Now, the 1st equation can be written as:

3x = 2y

x = 2y/3

Now replacing this into 2nd, we solve for y:

So altogether they have:

24+16=40