Elyse had five times the number of toy bricks as Gabriel. Elyse used all her bricks to build 8 identical ships. Gabriel used all his bricks to build 4 identical ships. Elyse used 9 more bricks than Gabriel for each ship. How many bricks did Gabriel have?

	Elyse	Gabriel
Number	8	4
Value	1 u + 9	1 u
Total value	8 u + 72	4 u

Number of toy bricks that Gabriel used for each ship = 1 u
Number of toy bricks that Elyse used for each ship = 1 u + 9

Number of toy bricks that Gabriel had
= 4 x 1 u
= 4 u

Number of toy bricks that Elyse had
= 8 x (1 u + 9)
= 8 u + 72

Elyse had five times the number of toy bricks as Gabriel.

5 x 4 u = 8 u + 72
20 u = 8 u + 72
20 u - 8 u = 72
12 u = 72

1 u = 72 ÷ 12 = 6

Number of bricks that Gabriel had
= 4 u
= 4 x 6
= 24

Answer(s): 24