Question

Max and Jack had 86 stamps. If Max gives 36 stamps to Karl, Max and Jack would have the same number of stamps left. How many stamps does Max need to give to Jack so that they have the same number of stamps? (Max did not give any stamps to Karl and is not planning to do it!)

Answer 1

Given:

• Max and Jack have 86 stamps
• If Max gives away 36 stamps, they have the same number of stamps

To Find:

The number of stamps Max needs to give to Jack so that they have the same number of stamps.

Answer:

Max needs to give Jack 18 stamps so that they have the same number of stamps.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let x denote the number of stamps Max has, and y denote the number of stamps Jack has.

Given that they have 86 stamps in total, the following equation is true

$x+y=86$

Now, if Max was to give away 36 stamps, then Max and Jack would have the same number of stamps. So,

$x-36=y$

Let us rewrite the first equation as

$x+y=86\\\\y=86-x$

We have thus got two values of y interms of x. So, putting

$y=x-36$

in

$y=86-x$

we have,

$x-36=86-x\\\\2x=86+36\\\\2x=122\\\\x=61$

Using

$y=x-36$

we have,

$y=61-36\\\\y=25$

So, Max has 61 stamps and Jack has 25 stamps.

Max has 36 more stamps than Jack. So, we see that if Max gives 36/2 = 18 stamps to Jack, they will both have equal stamps. That is, both Max and Jack will then have 43 stamps each.