A man has a set of jacks. He has $j$ jacks, which is twice as many jacks as he has balls $b$ . How many balls does he have?
Correct answer $b=\frac{j}{2}$. I think it should be $b=2j$ because he has "twice as many jacks as he has balls".
Mathematics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people studying math at any level and professionals in related fields. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this communityA man has a set of jacks. He has $j$ jacks, which is twice as many jacks as he has balls $b$ . How many balls does he have?
Correct answer $b=\frac{j}{2}$. I think it should be $b=2j$ because he has "twice as many jacks as he has balls".
If $b=2j$, that implies that he has more jacks than balls. However, from the problem, you know that he has more jacks than balls, so the answer should be $b=\frac{j}{2}$.
If he has $5$ balls, how many jacks does he have? $10$? Then $5 = \frac{10}{2}.$