Question

i have a number of sweets in a bag. if i removed three of them and divided the number remaining by 4, i would have two fewer than if i removed 7 and divided the number remaining by 3. How many sweets do i have


(N-3)/4 = (N-7)/3 +2

check my thinking.


I see annonymous simply handed you an equation without any explanation. We need to convert the word problem to some algebraic equation(s) we can solve.
Let S be the number of sweets in the bag.
Suppose you remove 3 and divide by 4, then this is
(S-3)/4
Since this is two fewer than something else we add two to it
(1) (S-3)/4 + 2
and this is the same as
(2) (S-7)/3
So (1) should = (2) or
(S-3)/4 + 2 = (S-7)/3
If you know how to handle equations, then the rest is algebra, if not, here would be the steps to find S
Since you have fractions, it's best to multiply by a common denominator to clear them. The LCD of 4 and 3 is 12.
12((S-3)/4 + 2) = 12(S-7)/3 this becomes
3(S-3) + 24 = 4(S-7) I'll let you finish it.

When you remove 3 and divide by 4 you should get 10. When you remove 7 and divide by 3 you should get 12. Always verify your arithmetic.

Answer 1

43 :D