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.