Mrs Sim gave pencils to every student in her class. If she gave each student 8 pencils, she would have 3 pencils left. If she gave 3 pencils to each student, she would have 188 pencils left. How mant students were there in Mrs Sims's class?

Answer 1

let the number of students be n
number of pencils = 8n+3
or
number of pencils = 3n + 188

8n + 3 = 3n + 188
5n = 185
n = 37

she has 37 students and 299 pencils

check:
8 pencils per student ---> 296 , 3 left over, ✔
3 pencils per student ---> 111 , 188 left over ✔