Answer:
1. there were 24 chocolates in the box at first.
2. the boy with the smallest share received 6 chocolates.
Explanation:
let's represent the number of chocolates in the box with 8x.
the first boy got ⅜ × 8x = 3x chocolates. now, there are 8x - 3x = 5x chocolates remaining.
the second boy got ⅖ × 5x = 2x chocolates. now, there are 5x - 2x = 3x chocolates remaining.
3x = 9 chocolates
x = 3 chocolates
since the original number of chocolates was represented by 8x, we now know that there were 8 × 3 = 24 chocolates in the box at first.
the first boy got 9 chocolates, the second boy got 6 chocolates and the last boy got 9 chocolates. thus, the boy with the smallest share got 6 chocolates.
i hope this helps! :D
