## anonymous 4 years ago a superhero recently asked his nemesis how many cats she has. she answered with a riddle: "seven eights" of my cats plus two" how many cats does the nemesis have?

1. anonymous

why would a superhero ask his nemesis how many cats she had

2. anonymous

3. asnaseer

the statements says that the number of cats is equal to: "seven eights" of my cats plus two that means that the "two" must refer to the remaining cats, which represent one-eight of the total. do you understand so far?

4. anonymous

truthfully not really :(

5. asnaseer

ok, let me try and explain more clearly...

6. anonymous

okay thanks :)

7. asnaseer

we are told that the number of cats is: "7/8" of my cats plus 2 this can also be stated as: "7/8" of my cats plus "1/8" of my cats (since 7/8 + 1/8 = 1) make sense?

8. asnaseer

if not, I can try another way

9. anonymous

yes it does make sense :)

10. asnaseer

ok - good

11. asnaseer

so now you can see why the "plus two" means that the "two" represents 1/8 of the total number of cats?

12. anonymous

so does that mean I have 3 cats?

13. asnaseer

no - remember the 2 represents 1/8 of the total number of cats. so if 1/8 of the total is 2 then how many cats altogether?

14. asnaseer

lets call the total number of cats c, then we can write:$\frac{c}{8}=2$so what will c equal?

15. anonymous

8? I am still a little confused

16. asnaseer

1/8 of 8 is 1. so that cannot be correct.

17. asnaseer

1/8 of what number will give you 2?

18. anonymous

so 1 cat?

19. asnaseer

1/8 of 1 is 1/8 - you cannot have an eight of a cat - at least not one that is alive! :)

20. anonymous

16 cats? :(

21. asnaseer

bingo! well done! :)

22. anonymous

yay! thank you God bless you! :)

23. asnaseer

it might be worth you reviewing what was done so that you understand this fully.

24. asnaseer

yw - I'm glad I was able to help. :)

25. asnaseer

do you want me to give you a similar question to check if you have understood this properly?

26. anonymous

I would love another! and or also can you help me on this one... the gasoline gauge on a van initially read 1/3 full when 10 gallons were added to the tank the gauge read 3/4 full how many more gallons are needed to fill the tank?

27. asnaseer

lets leave the new question for later (you should post that as a new question). I'll give another one similar to this one here as a test...

28. anonymous

alright! I will do that :) thank you!

29. asnaseer

the number of cats I have is "two thirds" of my cats plus 9 how many cats do I have?

30. anonymous

13?

31. asnaseer

no - remember - the first step is to work out how much of the total number of cats is represented by the 9

32. asnaseer

you are told that the total is "two thirds" of my cats plus 9 so the 9 must represent what fraction of the total?

33. asnaseer

remember "two thirds" have been accounted for - so what fraction remains?

34. anonymous

6

35. asnaseer

not 6.

36. anonymous

1/3

37. asnaseer

yes

38. asnaseer

so you now know that 1/3 of my total number of cats is 9 cats

39. asnaseer

so 1/3 of what number will give you 9?

40. anonymous

27 :)

41. asnaseer

thats it! hope you are beginning to understand how to do these now?

42. anonymous

I think so! thanks again! :)

43. asnaseer

yw :)