Wesley had 200 stickers. ⁴₅ were grey and the rest were white and red. The ratio of the number of white stickers to the number of red stickers was 1 : 4. Wesley decided to give away some grey stickers to decrease the number of grey stickers to half of the total number of stickers.

1. How many more grey stickers than white stickers did he have at first?
2. How many grey stickers did he have to give away?

Grey stickers	White stickers	Red stickers	Total
4x5	1x5
	1x1	4x1
20 u	1 u	4 u	200

	Grey stickers	White stickers	Red stickers
Before	20 u	1 u	4 u
Change	- ?
After	5 u	5 u
Comparing grey, white and red stickers in the end	1	1

(a)
The total number of white stickers and red stickers is repeated. Make the total number of white stickers and red stickers the same.  LCM of 1 and 5 is 5.

Total number of stickers at first
= 20 u + 1 u + 4 u
= 25 u

25 u = 200

1 u = 200 ÷ 25 = 8

Number of more grey stickers than white stickers at first
= 20 u - 1 u
= 19 u
= 19 x 8
= 152

(b)
Number of more grey stickers that Wesley had to give away
= 20 u - 5 u
= 15 u
= 15 x 8
= 120

Answer(s): (a) 152; (b) 120