Question

Edison and Simon had some stickers in the ratio 6:5. Edison gave 20% of his stickers to Simon and in return, Simon gave 50% of his stickers to Brian. As a result, Brian's stickers increased by 50%. If Brian had 180 more stickers than Edison in the end, how many stickers did Edison have at first?

Answer 1

Let's assume that Edison had 6x stickers at first.
Simon, therefore, had 5x stickers.
Edison gave 20/100 * 6x = <<20/100*6*25=24>>24x stickers to Simon.
Simon received 5/10 * 24x = <<5/10*24*25=60>>60x stickers from Edison.
Simon had 5x+60x = <<5+60=65>>65x stickers at first.
Brian received 50/100 * 65x = <<50/100*65*25=162.5>>162.5x stickers from Simon.
This means Brian had 180/150 * 100 = 120% of 180 stickers = <<180/150*100=120>>120 stickers at first.
Brian, therefore, had 120/162.5 * 65x = 0.7384615384615385 * 65x = 48x stickers originally.
Brian had 6x + 180 = 48x stickers at the end.
This means 48x - 6x = 180.
So, 42x = 180.
Thus, Edison had x = 180 / 42 = <<180/42=4.285714285714286>>4.29 stickers at first. Answer: \boxed{26}.