Shuxin begins with 10 red candies, 7 yellow candies, and 3 blue candies. After eating some of the candies, there are equal numbers of red, yellow, and blue candies remaining. What is the smallest possible number of candies that Shuxin ate?
Solution
For there to be equal numbers of each colour of candy, there must be at most 3 red candies and at most 3 yellow candies, since there are 3 blue candies to start. Thus, Shuxin ate at least 7 red candies and at least 4 yellow candies. This means that Shuxin ate at least candies. We note that if Shuxin eats 7 red candies, 4 yellow candies, and 0 blue candies, there will indeed be equal numbers of each colour.
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