Bonny just bought her 13th pair of shoes, which is 5 less than twice as many pairs of shoes as Becky owns. Bobby has 3 times as many pairs of shoes as Becky has. How many shoes does Bobby have?
Thoughts? Step-by-step reasoning:
Let x be the number of pairs of shoes that Becky owns. Since 13 pairs is 5 less than twice as many pairs as Becky owns, then the relationship is 2x - 5 = 13. Adding 5 to each side of the equation, we get 2x = 18. Solving for x, we get x = 9. Since Bobby has 3 times as many pairs of shoes as Becky has, then Becky has 3 * 9 = 27 pairs of shoes.
Thus, the answer is 27.