Brian gave 10 stamps from his collection to both Sam and Rob. Then he gave 14 stamps to Kathy and 6 stamps to Grace. He still had 275 stamps. How many stamps were in Brian’s collection to begin with?

Question

Solove using George Polya 4 step solution

Answer 1

step 1: READ the problem several times SLOWLY to yourself...

step 2: He has X stamps.. He gives 10 to sam, 10 to Rob, 14 to Kathy

and 6 to Graces. At that point he has 275 remaining.

step 3: X - 10-10-14-6 = 275

x - 40 = 275

x = 315

step 4:

315-10-10-14-6 = 305-10-14-6=295-14-6 = 281-6 = 275