Question

Riley had 1/6 as many sports cards as Justin. When Justin gave half of his sports cards to Riley, he had 3 fewer sports cards than his friend. How many sports cards did Justin have at first?

Answer 1

first,
1/6, find out what part is one car
justin gives 1/2 to his friend
then he has 3 fewer
so, if he has three fewer, then how many did he have before he gave any away

Answer 2

r = j/6
j-3 = r+3 - 3
now solve for j

Answer 3

let Riley have x cards, then Justin has 6x cards.

after the gifting:
Justing has 3x cards
Riley has x + 3x or 4x cards

That difference is 3 or
4x - 3x = 3
x = 3

I defined Justin to have 6x cards, so he originally had 18 cards

checking this:
Riley had 3 cards, and Justing had 18

Justing gave half of them or 9 of them to Riley,
so now Justin has 9 and Riley has 3+9 or 12
So he now has 3 more than Justin, my answer is correct