Mindy and troy combined ate 9 pieces of the wedding cake. Mindy ate 3 pieces of cake and troy had 1

Mindy and troy combined ate 9 pieces of the wedding cake. Mindy ate 3 pieces of cake and troy had 1/4 of the total cake. Write an equation to determine how many pieces of cake (c) that were in total

Let c be the total number of pieces of cake. Let m be the number of pieces Mindy ate. Let t be the number of pieces Troy ate. We have the following given equations:

• m + t = 9
• m = 3
• t = 1/4c

Combining (2) and (3) into (1), we have:
3 + 1/4c = 9

Subtract 3 from each side:
1/4c = 6

Cross multiply:
c = 24