A bowl contains a total of 26 blue and red marbles There are two more red marbles than blue marbles How many blue marbles are in the bowl?

There are 26 total marbles. We will call x the number of blue marbles. So there are x+2 red marbles. If you add them together you get x + x + 2....and all that equals 26 (subtract 2 from each side and add the two x's together) 26 - 2 = x + x 24 = 2x then divide each side by two and you get 24/2 = 2x/2 simplified is 12 = x So x is 12 (blue marbles) and x + 2 is 14 is (the amount of red marbles). 12 + 14 = 26!