Question

Please answer this mathematical problem.

Answer 1

x = total amount of gumballs

let's start subtracting the balls she's giving away

$\stackrel{total}{x}-\stackrel{\textit{to jaysen}}{\cfrac{x}{2}}\implies \stackrel{\textit{what's left}}{\cfrac{x}{2}}~\hfill \stackrel{\textit{half of what's left to Marinda}}{\cfrac{~~ \frac{x}{2}~~}{2}\implies \cfrac{x}{4}} \\\\\\ \stackrel{\textit{what was left minus Marinda's}}{\cfrac{x}{2}-\cfrac{x}{4}\implies \stackrel{\textit{what's left}}{\cfrac{x}{4}}}~\hfill ~\hfill \stackrel{\textit{a third of what's left to Zack}}{\cfrac{~~ \frac{x}{4}~~}{3}\implies \cfrac{x}{12}}$

$\stackrel{\textit{what was left minus Zack's}}{\cfrac{x}{4}-\cfrac{x}{12}\implies \stackrel{\textit{what's left}}{\cfrac{x}{6}}}~\hfill \stackrel{\textit{her sister gets 5 balls of what's left}}{ \cfrac{x}{6}-5 }$

and we also know that after all that has been subtracted, she's only left with 5, so we can say that

$\stackrel{\textit{what's finally left}}{\cfrac{x}{6}-5}~~ = ~~\stackrel{\textit{what's finally left}}{5}\implies \cfrac{x}{6}=10\implies \boxed{x = 60}$