Isabella has a bag of candy. She gives 1/2 of the bag to Kaleb. Kaleb gives 1/3 of the candy he now has to scott. If Scott has 5 pieces of candy, how many were in Isabella's original bag? draw example

Answer 1

Isabella has a bag of candy. She gives 1/2 of the bag to Kaleb. Kaleb gives 1/3 of the candy he now has to Scott. If Scott has 5 pieces of candy, how many were in Isabella's original bag? Draw example.

Let x = number of candies in Isabella's original bag

Kaleb's candies = 1/2 x

Scott's candies = ¹/₃(¹/₂)(x)

Scott's candies = 5

Since you are given a way to relate Scott's candies to Isabella's original candies and you are directly given the amount of Scott's candies, you can solve for x by setting them equal to each other:

¹/₃(¹/₂)(x) = 5 now simplify

¹/₆(x) = 5 divide each side by ¹/₆

x = 5 ÷ ¹/₆

x = 30 candies (number of candies Isabella started with)

Answer 2

think of the bag as B

we then multiply the fractions for the first two students

1/2 * 1/3 = 1/6

if scott has five candies and that is one sixth of the bag, then

B = 6 * 5 = 30