The Moore family received 27 pieces of mail on October 20. The mail consisted of letters, ads, bills, and magazines. How many letters did they receive if they received the same number of letters as bills, three more ads than bills, and five more magazines than ads?
x + x + x+3 + x+3+5 = 27
To find out how many letters the Moore family received, let's break down the information given:
- They received the same number of letters as bills.
- They received three more ads than bills.
- They received five more magazines than ads.
Let's assign variables:
Let's assume the number of bills they received as 'x'.
Since they received the same number of letters as bills, they also received 'x' letters.
The number of ads they received will be 'x + 3' because they received three more ads than bills.
The number of magazines they received will be 'x + 3 + 5' because they received five more magazines than ads.
We know that the total number of mail pieces they received is 27. So, we can write an equation to solve for 'x':
x + x + x + 3 + x + 8 = 27
Combining like terms:
4x + 11 = 27
Subtracting 11 from both sides:
4x = 16
Dividing both sides by 4:
x = 4
Therefore, the Moore family received 4 letters because they received the same number of letters as bills.