Tom, James and Dave have a box containing 45 chocolates. James eats 3 fewer that’s tom, and Dave eats 9 more than James. How many chocolates does tom eat?

Question

It is non aljabraic

Answer 1

If Tom eats T chocolates, then James eats T-3 and Dave eats T-3+9=T+6.

Together they eat all 45 chocolates: T+T-3+T+6=45.

3T+3=45, T+1=15 (dividing by 3), T=14, Tom eats 14 chocolates.

(14+11+20=45)

To solve without algebra: add the 3 chocolates James didn’t eat (compared with Tom) to the total number of chocolates, making 48. Then take away six chocolates (the difference between the 9 Dave ate and the three James didn’t eat) from 48=42. This is now the number of chocolates as if all three ate the same number of chocolates, so we divide 42 by 3=14. So Tom ate 14 chocolates.  

 

 

Answer 2

we need to solve for x, (x being how many tom eats)

Tom eats x pieces of choclate , james eats 3 fewer (x-3) and dave eats 9 more than james (x-3+9)

the equation to solve is x + (x-3) + (x+6) = 45 , 3x = 42 , x= 42/3 = 14

Tom eats 14 pieces