Question

Lucy has 4 more than 1/3 the number of pairs of socks as her sister. Lucy has at most 9 pairs of socks. How many pairs of socks does her sister have?

Answer 1

Answer: at most 15 pairs of socks

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the number of pair of socks of her sister be $x$ , and let the number of pairs Lucy has be $y$.

Since , Lucy has 4 more than 1/3 the number of pairs of socks as her sister, this means that

$\frac{1}{3}x + 4 = y$    .............................. equation 1

Also ,  Lucy has at most 9 pairs of socks , this means that

$y\leq 9$ ....................................... equation 2

Equating the two equations , we have

$\frac{1}{3}x + 4 \leq 9$

multiply through by 3

$x + 12\leq 27$

subtract 12 from both sides

$x\leq 15$

Therefore , the sister has at most 15 pairs of socks