Tom has a total of 95 beads. He has 20 more red beads than blue beads. He has twice as many white beads as red beads. How many blue beads does Tom have?
Assuming he has only reds, blues, and whites
blue beads ---- x
red beads ----- x+20
total of blues and reds = 2x + 20
white beads = 95-(2x+20) = 75 - 2x
75-2x = 2(x+20)
75-2x = 2x + 40
-4x = -35
x = 35/4 , which is not a whole number
the question is bogus, do you have a typo?
e.g. a total of 96 beads would have worked.
Let's assume the number of blue beads as 'x'.
According to the given information, Tom has 20 more red beads than blue beads, which means he has (x + 20) red beads.
Tom also has twice as many white beads as red beads, which means he has 2 * (x + 20) white beads.
The total number of beads Tom has is 95.
So, the equation becomes:
x + (x + 20) + 2 * (x + 20) = 95
Now, let's solve for x:
3x + 40 = 95
3x = 95 - 40
3x = 55
x = 55/3
Hence, Tom has approximately 18.333 (or 18 1/3) blue beads.
To find out how many blue beads Tom has, we can set up a system of equations using the given information. Let's use the variable "B" to represent the number of blue beads.
From the problem, we know that Tom has 20 more red beads than blue beads. So, the number of red beads can be represented as "B + 20".
We also know that Tom has twice as many white beads as red beads. So, the number of white beads can be represented as "2(B + 20)".
Now, we can create an equation using the total number of beads. The sum of the number of blue, red, and white beads should equal 95:
B + (B + 20) + 2(B + 20) = 95
We can simplify this equation:
B + B + 20 + 2B + 40 = 95
4B + 60 = 95
Next, we can solve for B by subtracting 60 from both sides of the equation:
4B = 95 - 60
4B = 35
Finally, divide both sides of the equation by 4 to solve for B:
B = 35 / 4
B = 8.75
Since the number of beads cannot be a fraction, we can conclude that Tom has 8 blue beads.