Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 2.5 Junior Find the answer Canada

A jar contains 600600 marbles,
each of which is either red, yellow, or green. The ratio of the number
of red marbles to the number of yellow marbles to the number of green
marbles is 7:3:57:3:5. If 2020 marbles of each colour are removed,
the new ratio of the number of red marbles to the number of yellow
marbles to number of green marbles is

Pick one

Solution

Let the number of red marbles be 7n7n, the number of yellow marbles be 3n3n, and the number of green marbles be
5n5n.

Note that the ratio of the number of red marbles to the number of yellow
marbles to the number of green marbles is 7n:3n:5n=7:3:57n:3n:5n=7:3:5, as is given.

The total number of marbles is 600, and so 7n+3n+5n=6007n+3n+5n=600 or 15n=60015n=600, and so n=60015=40n=\dfrac{600}{15}=40.

Thus, the number of red marbles is 7n=7(40)=2807n=7(40)=280, the number of yellow
marbles is 3n=3(40)=1203n=3(40)=120, and the
number of green marbles is 5n=5(40)=2005n=5(40)=200.

If 2020 marbles of each colour are
removed, the number of red marbles is 28020=260280-20=260, the number of yellow marbles
is 12020=100120-20=100, and the number of
green marbles is 20020=180200-20=180. In
this case, the new ratio of the number of red marbles to the number of
yellow marbles to the number of green marbles is 260:100:180=26:10:18=13:5:9260:100:180=26:10:18=13:5:9.

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.