Marion and Anna had a total of 48 stickers. Anna gave ¹₃ of her stickers to Marion. In return, Marion gave ¹₅ of the total number of stickers that she had to Anna. In the end, each girl had the same number of stickers. How many stickers did Marion have at first?

	Marion	Anna	Total
Before 1	?	3 u	48
Change 1	+ 1 u	- 1 u
After 1	30	2 u	48
Before 2	5 p	2 u	48
Change 2	- 1 p	+ 1 p
After 2	4 p (24)	24	48

Since Anna gave some stickers to Marion and Marion then gave some stickers to Anna, it is an internal transfer of stickers between the two girls. So, the total number of stickers remains unchanged.

Number of stickers that Anna and Marion each had in the end is the same.

Number of stickers that Marion had in the end
= 48 ÷ 2
= 24

Number of stickers that Marion had in the end = 4 p

4 p = 24

1 p = 24 ÷ 4 = 6

Number of stickers that Marion had after receiving some stickers from Anna
= 5 p
= 5 x 6
= 30

Number of stickers that Anna had after giving to Marion
= 48 - 30
= 18

2 u = 18

1 u = 18 ÷ 2 = 9

Number of stickers that Anna had at first
= 3 u
= 3 x 9
= 27

Number of stickers that Marion had at first
= 48 - 27
= 21

Answer(s): 21