The ratio of Griffin’s pencils to Florence’s pencils was 6 to 5. Griffin gave 1/4 of his pencils to Florence. He counted his remaining pencils and found that he now had 20 fewer pencils than Florence. How many pencils did Griffin have at first?
number for Griff --- 6x
number for Flo ---- 5x
after the exchange:
Griff ---- (3/4)(6x) = 9x/2
Flo ---- 5x + (1/4)(6x) = 5x + 3x/2
5x + 3x/2 - 9x/2 = 20
times 2 ...
10x + 3x - 9x = 40
4x = 40
x = 10
at start:
Griff had 60
Flo had 50
check:
griff gave (1/4)of 60 or 15 to Flo
who now would have 65
So Griff has 45 and Flo has 65, which is 20 more
my answer is correct