Victoria and Emily had a total of 36 stamps. Emily gave ¹₄ of her stamps to Victoria. In return, Victoria gave ¹₇ of the total number of stamps that she had to Emily. In the end, each girl had the same number of stamps. How many stamps did Victoria have at first?

	Victoria	Emily	Total
Before 1	?	4 u	36
Change 1	+ 1 u	- 1 u
After 1	21	3 u	36
Before 2	7 p	3 u	36
Change 2	- 1 p	+ 1 p
After 2	6 p (18)	18	36

Since Emily gave some stamps to Victoria and Victoria then gave some stamps to Emily, it is an internal transfer of stamps between the two girls. So, the total number of stamps remains unchanged.

Number of stamps that Emily and Victoria each had in the end is the same.

Number of stamps that Victoria had in the end
= 36 ÷ 2
= 18

Number of stamps that Victoria had in the end = 6 p

6 p = 18

1 p = 18 ÷ 6 = 3

Number of stamps that Victoria had after receiving some stamps from Emily
= 7 p
= 7 x 3
= 21

Number of stamps that Emily had after giving to Victoria
= 36 - 21
= 15

3 u = 15

1 u = 15 ÷ 3 = 5

Number of stamps that Emily had at first
= 4 u
= 4 x 5
= 20

Number of stamps that Victoria had at first
= 36 - 20
= 16

Answer(s): 16