The sweets swap puzzle
Alice, Ben, and Charlie each had a bag of sweets.
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Alice had 24 sweets.
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Ben had twice as many sweets as Alice.
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Charlie had 18 fewer sweets than Ben.
They decide to redistribute the sweets so that each of them ends up with the same number of sweets.
How many sweets must Ben give to Charlie so that all three have the same amount?
Step 1: Total number of sweets
ReplyDelete24 (Alice) + 48 (Ben) + 30 (Charlie) = 102 sweets
Step 2: Equal share for each person
102 ÷ 3 = 34 sweets each
Step 3: How much must Ben give to Charlie?
Ben currently has 48 sweets, needs to end with 34 → must give away 48 − 34 = 14 sweets
Charlie has 30 sweets, needs to get to 34 → needs 34 − 30 = 4 sweets
But wait: if Ben gives 14, and Charlie only needs 4, where do the other 10 sweets go?
Let’s check:
Alice has 24 sweets, needs 34 → she needs 10 sweets
So Ben gives 10 to Alice, and 4 to Charlie
Final Answer: Ben must give 4 sweets to Charlie.