A pirate captain stole a chest of gold pieces and buried 1/4 of the pieces.

Question

A pirate captain stole a chest of gold pieces and buried 1/4 of the pieces. He lost 1/3 of the remaining pieces during a storm at sea. Of what was left, he gave 1/2 to his first mate. He then had 9000 gold pieces. How many pieces of gold were in the chest he stole?

Answer 1

At the end 9000.

Before splitting with mate, 18000

Before storm at sea, 27000  (3/2 of 1800)

Before burying, 36000 (4/3 of 2700)

Answer 2

Hi Amy, let x represent the gold pieces in the chest. Here is the equation to solve:

 

x - 1/4 * x - 1/4 * x - 1/4 * x = 9000.

 

The first 1/4 * x represent the money he buried.

 

The second 1/4 * x represent the 1/3 he lost at sea.

 

The third 1/4 * x represents the 1/2 he gave to his first mate.

 

Questions?