Question

A box contains red and blue pens. 40% of the pens are red pens. There are 32 more blue pens than red pens. How many pens are there in the box?

Answer 1

Answer:

There are 160 pens in the box.

Step-by-step explanation:

If the red pens are 40 percent, then the blue pens are 60 percent. There are 32 more blue pens than red which means 32 is 20 percent. 32 times 5 is 160.

Answer 2

Answer:

There are 160 pens in total in the box.

Step-by-step explanation:

1. x = amount of pens in the box

r = amount of red pens

b = amount of blue pens

2. r + b = x

3. Because we know that there are 32 more blue pens than red pens, we can substitute b for (r + 32)

r + r + 32 = x

4. We can now combine like terms

2r + 32 = x

5. We know that the red pens make up 40 percent of the box. Using that knowledge, we can now confirm that 2r makes up 80 percent of the box. This leaves 20 percent, which is the remaining 32.

32 = x/5

6. We can now multiply both sides by 5 to get the answer.

160 = x