There are a total of 120 counters in a box, there are only red counters and blue counters in the box. there are three times as many red as blue counters in the box. carl takes 1/3 of the red counters from the box. kerry takes 80% of the blue counters from the box. work out the ratio of the number of red counters to blue counters now in the box. give your ratio in its simplest form

Let blue counters = x

Red counters would be 3x ( three times as many)

first find the number of red and the number of blue counters:

3x + x = 120

4x = 120

x = 120/4

x = 30

There are 30 blue counters and 90 red counters.

Carl took 1/3 of the red, 90 / 3 = 30, so there were 60 red counters left

Kerry took 80% of the blue, 30 * 0.80 = 24, so there were 6 blue counters left

The ratio of red to blue would be 60: 6 which can be simplified to 10:1.