Matthew's cat weighs 10 pounds more than his pet hamster. His dog weighs the same as his cat. If the

Matthew's cat weighs 10 pounds more than his pet hamster. His dog weighs the same as his cat. If the weight of all three pets is 35 pounds, ow much does his hamster weigh?

Setup weights and relations:

• Hamster weight: w
• Cat weight: w + 10
  
• Dog weight:w + 10

Add all the weights up:
w + w + 10 + w + 10 = 35

Solve for w in the equation w + w + 10 + w + 10 = 35

Step 1: Group the w terms on the left hand side:
(1 + 1 + 1)w = 3w

Step 2: Group the constant terms on the left hand side:
10 + 10 = 20

Step 3: Form modified equation
3w + 20 = + 35

Step 4: Group constants:
We need to group our constants 20 and 35. To do that, we subtract 20 from both sides
3w + 20 - 20 = 35 - 20

Step 5: Cancel 20 on the left side:
3w = 15

Step 6: Divide each side of the equation by 3
3w/3 = 15/3

w = 5

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