3. Jacques and Gillian were given a basket containing 25 pieces of fruit by their grandmother. On the way home, Jacques ate one apple and three pears and Gillian ate three apples and two pears. When they got home they found the basket contained the same number of apples as it did pears and no other types of fruit. How many pears were they given by their grandmother?
A 12
B 13
C 16
D 20
E 21
Solution
B

The number of pieces of fruit the children had when they arrived home was $25-1-3-3-2=16$. Since we are told that the basket then contained equal numbers of apples and pears, there were then $16 \div 2=8$ pears in the basket. Therefore, the number of pears they were given by their grandmother was $8+3+2=13$.