A vintage tram departs a stop with a certain number of boys and girls on board. At the first stop, a third of the girls get out and their places are taken by boys. At the next stop, a third of the boys get out and their places are taken by girls. There are now two more girls than boys and as many boys as there originally were girls. How many boys and girls were there on board at the start?
Problem
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Tags: algebra
biscuit02
14.11.2021 09:14
$\begin{tabular}{||c c c||}
\hline
Time & girls & boys\\ [0.5ex]
\hline\hline
\text{Initially} & m & n\\
\hline
1st stop & 2m/3 & n+m/3\\
\hline
\text{2nd stop} & 2m/3 +(1/3)(n+m/3) & (2/3)(n+m/3)\\
\hline
\end{tabular}$
$2m/3 +(1/3)(n+m/3) =(2/3)(n+m/3)+2$
$5m-3n=18$
$(2/3)(n+m/3) =m$
$m=(6/7)n$
$m=12, n=14$
12 girls and 14 boys
Lamboreghini
14.11.2021 09:25
Let $b$ be the original number of boys and $g $ be the original number of girls.
After the first stop, we have $b+\frac{g}{3}$ boys and $\frac{2g}{3}$ girls.
After the second stop, there are $\frac23\left(b+\frac g3\right)$ and $\frac{2g}{3}+\frac13\left(b+\frac g3\right)$ girls.
We have that $\frac23\left(b+\frac g3\right)+2=\frac{2g}{3}+\frac13\left(b+\frac g3\right)$ and $\frac23\left(b+\frac g3\right)=g.$ Solving these, we obtain $b=14$ and $g=12.$