Rondrick had a certain number of sweets. If he gives 3 sweets to each of his friends, he will have 7 sweets left. If he gives 5 sweets to each of his friends, he will need 9 more sweets. How many friends does he have?

2 answers

To solve this problem, we can use algebraic equations. Let's assume that Rondrick has "x" number of sweets and "y" number of friends.

According to the problem, if he gives 3 sweets to each of his friends, he will have 7 sweets left. This can be represented as:

x - 3y = 7 ----(1)

Similarly, if he gives 5 sweets to each of his friends, he will need 9 more sweets. This can be represented as:

x - 5y = -9 ----(2)

Now we have two equations with two variables. We can solve for "x" and "y" using any method of our choice. Here, we will use the elimination method.

Multiplying equation (1) by 5 and equation (2) by 3, we get:

5x - 15y = 35 ----(3)
3x - 15y = -27 ----(4)

Subtracting equation (4) from equation (3), we get:

2x = 62

x = 31

Now substituting the value of x in equation (1), we get:

31 - 3y = 7

-3y = -24

y = 8

Therefore, Rodrick has 8 friends.
Answer: Rondrick has 8 friends.