Four times the number of apples is five less than three times the number of pears.....

Four times the number of apples is five less than three times the number of pears.  If there are 32 pieces of fruit in all, how many are pears?

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p = the number of pears
32 - p = number of apples  {there are 32 pieces of fruit}

4(32 - p) = 3p - 5   {four times apples is five less than three times the pears}
128 - 4p = 3p - 5   {used distributive property}
7p = 133   {added 4p and 5 to each side}
p = 19 {divided each side by 7}

There are 19.pears

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