In a bag of chips, 1/7 are red, 2/3 are blue, and the rest are yellow. If there are 44 yellow chips, then how many chips are there in all?

Answer 1

Set the total number of chips as T.

Build the statement: (1/7)T + (2/3)T + 44 = T.

Then develop: 44 = T − (1/7)T − (2/3)T.

Take this last to 44 = T − (3/21)T − (14/21)T.

This reduces to 44 = [21/21 − 3/21 − 14/21] × T.

Then T amounts to 44 divided by 4/21 or 231 chips in all.