A bag containing some widgets weighs 81 kg. When 2 of the widgets are removed, the weight of the bag of widgets drops to 73 kg. The bag weighs 1 kg when empty. How many widgets are left in the bag?

Question

hero · Answer

There were 20 to begin with
Each widget weighs 4 kg

Remove 2 widgets and there are 18 left

Don't deal with the 1kg bag. Take that out of the equation and it's easier to work with.

anonymous · Answer

thnx but can u explain me the solution in equation form
like how did u get 20 and 4 kg

hero · Answer

I just explained it to you. You don't need a formula to figure this out.

anonymous · Answer

ok thnx lol im a bit slow wen it comes to math :P

hero · Answer

Okay, so we start with two things...

The The total weight which is 81 kg. We know the bag weighs 1 kg. We remove the 1kg bag because we only want to deal with the total weight of the widgets, so 81-1 = 80

The total weight of the widgets is 80kg. If we take 2 away, then the weight of the widgets is reduced to 72kg. That's difference of 8kg. so 2x = 8, x =4

So each widget weighs 4kg. So 4x = 72

x = 18

That's how many widgets were in the bag. 

I don't know how simpler to explain it sorry.