Question

Aiden wrote a riddle: Five less than 1/5 times a number is the same as the sume of the number and 1/3. Find the number.

Answer 1

The number is -6.67

Solution:

Let "n" be the number

From given,

$\text{ Five less than 1/5 times a number } = \frac{1}{5}n - 5 = \frac{5}{n} - 5$

$\text{Sum of number and 1/3 } = n + \frac{1}{3} =\frac{3n+1}{3}$

Given that,

Five less than 1/5 times a number is the same as the sum of the number and 1/3

Therefore, we get,

$\frac{n}{5} - 5 = n + \frac{1}{3}\\\\Simplify\ the\ expression\\\\n - 25 = 5(n + \frac{1}{3})\\\\n - 25 = 5n + \frac{5}{3}\\\\n - 25 = \frac{15n + 5}{3}\\\\3n - 75 = 15n + 5\\\\12n = -80\\\\n = -6.67$

Thus the number is -6.67