A and B have the same number of marbles when they start playing. After some time A gains 20 marbles and later he loses 2/3rds of what he had. Now B has 4 times as many marbles as A has. What are the initial number of marbles that each of them had?

• Intially let us take both had x marbles
  after some time
  A got x + 20 So B got x - 20
  Again
  A loses (2/3) of x+20 so B gained that Now B has x-20 + (2/3)(x+20)
  which is equal to 4 times of A's marbles but now A has only (1/3) (x+20)
  So by comparing we can say x- 20 = (2/3)(x+20)
  that gives x-20 = 2x/3+ 40/3
  that gives x = 100
• 13 years agoHelpfull: Yes(3) No(0)
• Let us consider A has X and B has X.
  A gains 20 marbles from B,,,,,
  so A has X+20 and B has X-20.
  B gains 2/3 of marbles from A ,,,,,,
  so A has (X+20)-2/3(X+20) and B has (X-20)+2/3(X+20)
  
  Now 4[(X+20)-2/3(X+20)]=(X-20)+2/3(X+20) (According to Question -> B is to 4 times of A's marbles )
  From this each has 100
  Answer is 100
• 4 years agoHelpfull: Yes(0) No(0)