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Question P6 Constant total

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Container P and Container Q held marbles in the ratio 9 : 7.

Container P and Container Q held marbles in the ratio 9 : 7. After 20 marbles were poured from Container P into Container Q, the ratio became 7 : 9. How many marbles were in Container P at first?

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About this method

Constant total

Money moves between two people, so their total never changes.

In this one. Pouring between the containers keeps their combined total fixed; because both ratios contain 16 parts altogether, one part has the same value before and after.

Before4 shares in allAlithis one movesBenAfter4 shares in allAliBenarrived here

How to spot it

One person gives, sells or loses an amount to the other, and nobody outside the two people gains or loses anything.

Common mistake

Children draw different totals before and after, or forget that moving an amount from one person to the other changes the gap between them by twice that amount.

Practise a similar question

Standard The ratio of Liam's trading cards to Noah's trading cards was 7 : 5. After Liam gave some of his cards to Noah, the ratio became 5 : 7. Together they had 144 cards throughout. How many cards did Liam give to Noah?
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