Word Problem

Question

A group of friends are sharing candy in a movie theatre. Ben ate half of the jelly beans in the box and passed it to Clarissa. Clarissa ate one third of the remaining jelly beans, then passed the box to Josh.  Josh are one fourth of the jelly beans that were left and passed the box to Rebecca. Rebecca ate the last 12 jelly beans.  How many jelly beans did Clarissa eat?

Answer 1

Hi Madge,

 

Here is one way to solve. Let X = number of JB in the box to start. Make a table with 3 column headings [Name, Ate, Remain).

 

Name     Ate                           Remain

Ben      (1/2)X                         (1/2)X

Clarissa (1/3)(1/2)X=(1/6)X     (2/3)(1/2)X=(1/3)X   (note if clarissa ate 1/3, then 2/3 of what was there remain

Josh      (1/4)(1/3)X=(1/12)X     (3/4)(1/3)X=(1/4)X

Rebecca  12

 

So the expression that represents how many were left after Josh ate his 1/4 is (1/4)X. But that amount is 12.

 

So, (1/4)X = 12 and X = 48.

 

How many did Clarissa eat? (1/6)X or (1/6)48 = 8.