+48 Adam and Claire each had a collection of postcards. Claire had 4/7 as many postcards as Adam. When Adam gave away 35 postcards, Claire then had twice as many as Adam. How many postcards were in Adam's collection at first?
+85 cards originally had by adam = x, cards originally had by claire = y.
7/4 y = x from sentence 1
1/2y = x - 35(I'm assuming your questions means that Adam did not give the postcards away to claire here)
7/4y - x = 0
1/2y - x = -35
equation 1 - equation 2 to get
5/4y = 35
Thus
y = 28, and
x = 49
Adam originally had 49 cards, and Claire originally had 28 cards
