During last week's visit to this same pear tree, Pete ate 3 times as many pears as Tweet, and Tweet ate 5 fewer pears than Honk. If together the boys ate 25 pears, how many pears did Honk eat during last week's visit?
http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1387500355
To solve this problem, let's start by assigning some variables:
Let's say the number of pears Honk ate is H.
Since Tweet ate 5 fewer pears than Honk, the number of pears Tweet ate is (H - 5).
And since Pete ate 3 times as many pears as Tweet, Pete ate (3 * (H - 5)) pears.
Now, we are given that together the boys ate 25 pears.
So, we can write the equation: H + (H - 5) + 3 * (H - 5) = 25.
Simplifying this equation, we get: H + H - 5 + 3H - 15 = 25.
Combining like terms, we have: 5H - 20 = 25.
Adding 20 to both sides of the equation, we get: 5H = 45.
Dividing both sides by 5, we find: H = 9.
Therefore, Honk ate 9 pears during last week's visit.