Chris gave Jane x cards. He gave Bety one card more than he gave Jane and he gave Paul two cards fewer than he gave Betty. In terms of x, how many cards did Chris give Bety, Jane, and Paul together??

Hi,

Have Chris organize his cards

Cards for Jane:  x
Cards for Betty:  x + 1
Cards for Paul:  x + 1 - 2

Now total the cards to get

x + x + 1 + x + 1 - 2 Thus he has 3x (three times the number of cards he gave Jane) plus 1 plus 1 minus 2. But 1 + 1 - 2 = 0 and hence he gave in total 3x cards.

When you do this type of problem it is a good idea to try some numbers to make sure your expression gives the correct answer. For example suppose Chris gave 4 cards to Jane (that is x = 4). Then he gave 5 to Betty and 3 to Paul. 4 + 5 + 3 = 12 and 3x = 3(4) = 12 so 3x gives the correct number of cards.

Cheers,
Penny
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