Julian, Majid and Pillay had the same number of rubber bands. During a game, Julian lost 12 rubber bands to Pillay and Majid lost 20 rubber bands to Pillay. The ratio of Julian's rubber bands to Majid's rubber bands became 4:3. How many rubber bands did each boy have at first?

Answer 1

Before game:
Julian --- x bands
Majid --- x
Pillay ----x

after game:
Julian ---- x-12
Majid --- x-20
Pillay --- x + 32

(x-12) : (x-20) = 4 : 3
4x - 80 = 3x - 36
x = 44

each had 44

check:
44-12 : 44-20
= 32 ; 24
= 4:3