Will had two less than three times as many video games as Josh.

Question

If Will has 19, how many does Josh have?
Show your work write an equation

Answer 1

Let's define the number of video games Josh has as \( J \).

According to the problem, Will has two less than three times as many video games as Josh. This can be expressed mathematically as:

\[ W = 3J - 2 \]

Where:

• \( W \) is the number of video games Will has.
• \( J \) is the number of video games Josh has.

We're given that Will has 19 video games, so we can substitute \( W = 19 \) into the equation:

\[ 19 = 3J - 2 \]

Now, we'll solve for \( J \).

1. Add 2 to both sides of the equation to isolate the term involving \( J \):

\[ 19 + 2 = 3J \] \[ 21 = 3J \]

2. Next, divide both sides by 3:

\[ J = \frac{21}{3} \] \[ J = 7 \]

So, Josh has 7 video games.

To verify, we can calculate Will's video games based on Josh's value:

\[ W = 3J - 2 = 3(7) - 2 = 21 - 2 = 19 \]

This confirms that our work is correct. Josh has 7 video games.