Meredith picked 4 times as many green peppers as red peppers. if she picked a total of 20 peppers, how many green peppers did she pick?

Let's have X represent the number of red peppers Meredith picked:

X = red peppers

We know that Meredith picked 4 times as many green peppers as red peppers, so based on this:

green peppers = 4*(red peppers) = 4X

In total, she picked 20, so:

Red peppers + Green peppers = 20
X + 4X = 20
5X = 20
X = 4

So, Meredith picked 4 red peppers and 16 (4 times 4) green peppers!

Remember, you can do anything to an equation as long as you do it to both sidesminus 36 from both sides4.5(8-x)=66-2.5(3x+24)distribute36-4.5x=66-7.5x-60add like terms36-4.5x=-7.5x+6add 7.5x to both sides36+3x=6minus 36 from both sides3x=-30divide both sides by 3x=-10