Question

Bryan had some stickers. He gave 1/5 of his stickers to John and bought 4 new stickers. After that, he gave 1/3 of his remaining stickers to his brother and bought another 7 new stickers. In the end, Bryan had 55 stickers.
(a) How many stickers did Bryan give to his brother?
(b) How many stickers did Bryan have at first?

Answer 1

Let initial no. of stickers = N
Given to John = N/5
Remaining = N - N/5 = 4N/5
Bought 4 New
Now, no. of tickets = 4N/5 + 4
Given to brother = 1/3 of (4N/5 + 4)
= 4N/15 + 4/3
Remaining = (4N/5 + 4) - (4N/15 + 4/3)
= 4N/5 - 4N/15 + 4 - 4/3
= 8N/15 + 8/3
Bought 7 New
no. of stickers = 8N/15 + 8/3 + 7
= 8N/15 + 29/3


Now Bryan has 55
8N/15 + 29/3 = 55
8N/15 = 55 - 29/3 = 136/3
N = (136 * 15)/3 * 8 = 85
4N/15 + 4/3 = (4 * 85)/15 + 4/3
= (4 * 17)/3 + 4/3 = (68 + 4)/3
= 72/3 = 24