a manager bought some stamps. she gave 1/3 of them to a cashier and 1/5 of them to her secretary. if the secretary received 40 fewer stamps than the cashier, how many stamps did the cashier receive?

Let x = total number of stamps

1/3x - 1/5x = 40

Solve for x, the 1/3x.

20

To solve this problem, we can follow a step-by-step approach.

Step 1: Let's assume the total number of stamps that the manager bought is "x".

Step 2: The manager gave 1/3 of the stamps to the cashier, which is equivalent to (1/3) * x = x/3.

Step 3: The manager also gave 1/5 of the stamps to her secretary, which is equivalent to (1/5) * x = x/5.

Step 4: According to the problem, the secretary received 40 fewer stamps than the cashier. This can be represented as x/5 = (x/3) - 40.

Step 5: To solve this equation, we can multiply both sides by 15 to eliminate the fractions: 15 * (x/5) = 15 * ((x/3) - 40).

Simplifying this equation gives us: 3x = 5x - 600.

Step 6: Rearranging this equation gives us: 2x = 600.

Step 7: Dividing both sides by 2 gives us: x = 300.

Therefore, the manager bought a total of 300 stamps.

Step 8: To find out how many stamps the cashier received, we can substitute the value of x in the equation x/3. So, the cashier received (300/3) = 100 stamps.

Hence, the cashier received 100 stamps.