Alex came home after school one day and found that his mother had left a plate of cookies. Alex ate 1/4 of the cookies. When his sister Bernice came home, she ate 1/3

Question

of the remaining cookies, and when Carla came home, she ate 1/2
of the cookies on the plate. When their mother came home, there were 3 cookies on the plate. How many did each child eat?

Answer 1

Let x = # of cookies originally on the plate.

x - 1/4x - 1/3(1/4x) - 1/2(1/3)(1/4x) = 3

Solve for x, then solve for each one of the three subtracted terms.