Tom has 5 times as many comic books as Deborah. Deborah has 40% of the number of comic books that George has. if the total number of comics owned by the three friends is 204, how many are owned by Tom?
number for George --- x
Deb has ----- .4x
Tom has 5(.4x) or 2x
x + .4x + 2x = 204
solve for x
To find the number of comic books owned by Tom, we need to follow these steps:
Step 1: Let's assume the number of comic books owned by Deborah is 'x'.
Step 2: Since Tom has 5 times as many comic books as Deborah, we can represent the number of comic books owned by Tom as '5x'.
Step 3: Now, let's find the number of comic books owned by George. We are given that Deborah has 40% of the number of comic books that George has. Mathematically, this can be expressed as:
Deborah's comic books = 40% of George's comic books
x = (40/100) * George's comic books
x = (2/5) * George's comic books
Step 4: The total number of comic books owned by all three friends is given as 204. So, we can write the equation as:
x + 5x + (2/5) * George's comic books = 204
Step 5: Simplifying the equation, we get:
6x + (2/5) * George's comic books = 204
Step 6: Since we don't have the value for George's comic books, we won't be able to solve for 'x' and find the exact number of comic books owned by Tom. We would require more information to solve the equation.
Hence, without knowing the value of 'x' (the number of comic books owned by Deborah) or George's comic books, we cannot determine the exact number of comic books owned by Tom.