Abul, Bea and Charley each have some flowers. Abul has 20% more than Bea. Charley has 1/2 the number of flowers Abul has. Charley sells 1/2 of her flowers and then has 60 left. How many flowers did they have in total to start with?
we can use variables
a=# flowers Abul has
b=# flowers Bea has
c=# flowers Charley has
a=1.2b2c=a12c=60c=120a=240b=200
So the answer is 560
A = (1.2)B
C = A / 2 = (1.2)B / 2 = .6B
When Charley sells 1/2 of her flowers she has 60 left....so....
.6B - (.6B) / 2 = 60
.3B = 60
B = 60 / .3 = 200
A = (1.2)(200) = 240
C = .6 (200) = 120
They started with 200 + 240 + 120 = 560
+33 
