Question

out of a swarm of bees, one fifth settled on a blossom of kadamba, one third on flower of silindhiri, and three times the difference between these two numbers flew to the bloom of kutaja. only ten bees were left from the swarm. what was the number of bees in the swarm ?(note,kadamba, salindhiri and kutaja are flowering trees. The problem is from ancient indian text on algebra)

Answer 1

let the number of bees=x
bees settled on a blossom of kadamba=(1/5)x
bees settled on silindhiri=(1/3)x
bees flew to the kutaja=3(1/5-1/3)x=(6/15)x
the number of bees in the swarm=x-(1/5+1/3+6/15)x=10
=x-(14/15)x=10
=(1/15)x=10
x=150

Answer 2

Answer:

Let the number of bees be x.

Bees settled on a blossom of Kadamba =

5

1

x

Bees settled on Silindhiri =

3

1

x

Bees flew to the Kutaja =3(

3

1

−

5

1

)x=(

15

6

)x

The number of bees in the swarm

=x−(

5

1

+

3

1

+

15

6

)x=10

x−

15

14x

=10

15

x

=10

x=150

Hence, this is the answer.