There were 900 sweets in boxes a b c. 18 sweets were transfered from a to b. 5 sweets were transferred from b to c. 1/3 of the sweets in c were then transferred to a. There were an equal number of sweets in all 3 boxes. How many sweets were in each box at first.
If we stated with 900 and each contained an equal number at the end, then each box contained 300 at the end
Let a,b,c be the number in each box to start with
b started with b
And after the transfers
b + 18 - 5 = 300
b + 13 = 300
b = 300 - 13 = 287
c started with 900 - (a + b)
And after the transfers
(2/3) [ 900 -(a + b) + 5 ] = 300
905 - a - b = 450
905 - a - 287 = 450
618 - a = 450
a = 618 - 450 = 168
c = 900 - 168 - 287 = 445
So
a started with 168
b started with 287
c started with 445