Calen originally had 5 more pencils than does Caleb, and Caleb has 3 less than twice as many pencils as does Candy. If Calen lost 10 pencils, which left him with 10 pencils, then how many pencils does Candy have?
Thoughts? Step-by-step reasoning:
If Calen lost 10 pencils, which left him with 10 pencils, then Calen originally had 10 + 10 = 20 pencils. Calen originally had 5 more pencils than does Caleb, and thus Caleb has 20 - 5 = 15 pencils. Let's let "x" represent the number of pencils owned by Candy. Since Caleb has 3 less than twice as many pencils as does Candy, then (2 * x) - 3 = 15. This simplifies to 2 * x = 18. Thus, the number of pencils owned by Candy is x = 9 pencils.
Thus, the answer is 9.