Question

The number of boys and girls are equal in a class. On a day when eight boys did not attend, the number of girls was double the number of boys in this class. What is the actual number of boys and girls?

Answer 1

Let the number of boys in the class be x

The number of boys and girls are equal. So, the number of girls in the class is also x.

The number of boys who did not attend the class = 8

∴ Number of boys who attended the class = x − 8

Number of girls in the class = 2 × (x − 8) = 2x − 16

Algebraic form of the problem is:

2x − 16 = x

Subtracting x from both the sides:

⇒ 2x − 16 − x = x − x

⇒ x − 16 = 0

Adding 16 to both the sides:

⇒ x − 16 + 16 = 0 + 16

⇒ x = 16

Therefore, the actual number of boys and girls in the class is 16.