Two boxes contained 155 lb of flour. If you take 20 lb from the first and add it to the second, the first box will contain 12/19 of what is now in the second. What amount of flour was originally in each box?

Answer:First and second box had 80 and 75 lb flour originally.Step-by-step explanation:Let the two boxes contained x lb and y lb of the flour respectively.Both the boxes contained 155 lb of flour in total.So the first equation will be,x + y = 155 --------(1)If the 20 lb of the flour is taken out then amount of flour in first box = (x - 20) lband added to the second box then flour in second box = (y + 20) lbAfter the mixing of flour statement says that "the first box will contain [tex]\frac{12}{19}[/tex] of the flour now in the second box."For this statement equation will be [tex](x-20)=\frac{12}{19}(y+20)[/tex]19(x - 20) = 12(y + 20)19x - 12y = 380 + 24019x - 12y = 620 ------(2)Equation (1) × 12 + equation (2)12(x + y) + (19x - 12y) = 155×12 + 62031x = 1860 + 62031x = 2480x = [tex]\frac{2480}{31}[/tex]x = 80 lb from equation (1) 80 + y = 155y = 155 - 80y = 75 lb.Therefore, first and second boxes had 80 lb and 75 lb of flour originally.