Rhonda bakes p pies. Mary bakes 3p pies. If together they bake 20 pies, how many pies does Mary bake?Rhonda bakes p pies. Mary bakes 3p pies. If together they bake 20 pies, how many pies does Mary bake?

I would've thought p+3=20 so 20-3=17 making it p=17 but not sure that makes sense.

p + 3p = 20

4p = 20

p = 5

23

To determine how many pies Mary bakes, we need to set up an equation using the information given in the problem. Let's assign a variable to represent the number of pies Rhonda bakes, so we'll say Rhonda bakes p pies.

Now, according to the problem, Mary bakes 3p pies. So both Rhonda and Mary together bake p + 3p = 4p pies.

We are also given that together, they bake 20 pies. This allows us to create the equation:

4p = 20

To solve for p, we can divide both sides of the equation by 4:

p = 20 / 4

Simplifying the equation, we find that p = 5.

Therefore, Rhonda bakes 5 pies, and Mary bakes 3 times that amount, or 3 * 5 = 15 pies.

So Mary bakes a total of 15 pies.