leon weighed a bag of pears. then he added 4 pounds of pears to the bag. after he took out of 5 pounds of pears, the bag weighed 3 pounds. how much did the bag weigh at the start
4 pounds
To solve this problem, we can follow the given information step by step and use algebraic equations.
Let's assume the initial weight of the bag of pears is "x" pounds.
According to the problem:
1. Leon added 4 pounds of pears to the bag, so the weight of the bag increased by 4 pounds, making it x + 4 pounds.
2. Next, Leon took out 5 pounds of pears, so the weight of the bag decreased by 5 pounds, making it (x + 4) - 5 pounds, which is equal to x - 1 pound.
3. Finally, we are given that after removing 5 pounds of pears, the bag weighed 3 pounds, which means the weight of the bag is x - 1 = 3 pounds.
To find the weight of the bag at the start:
x - 1 = 3
To isolate x, we can add 1 to both sides of the equation:
x - 1 + 1 = 3 + 1
x = 4
Therefore, the bag weighed 4 pounds at the start.