Question

Veronica got 3 times as many gifts as Natalie. Together Veronica and Natalie got a total of 12 gifts how many gifts did Natalie (x) and Veronica (y) each get

Answer 1

The equation we'll use for this is:Total Gifts = Veronica's Gifts (v) + Natalie's Gifts (n).
12 = v + n
The problem says Veronica got 3 times as many gifts as Natalie.
You can directly translate this into an equation!
v = 3 * n = 3n.  This means we can replace any v with 3n.
So, 12 = v + n = 3n + n = 4n
12 = 4n
3 = n.  Natalie got 3 gifts.
We can now plug back in for Veronica's gifts:
v = 3n
v = 3(3)
v = 9.  Veronica got 9 gifts.