AMC12 2020 12B, Problem 5

Teams $A$ and $B$ are playing in a basketball league where each game results in a win for one team and a loss for the other team. Team $A$ has won $\tfrac{2}{3}$ of its games and team $B$ has won $\tfrac{5}{8}$ of its games. Also, team $B$ has won $7$ more games and lost $7$ more games than team $A.$ How many games has team $A$ played?

Solution: Suppose team $A$ has played $g$ games in total so that it has won $\frac23g$ games. It follows that team $B$ has played $g+14$ games in total so that it has won $\frac23g+7$ games. We set up and solve an equation for team $B$'s win ratio: \begin{align} \frac{\frac23g+7}{g+14}&=\frac58 \\ \frac{16}{3}g+56&=5g+70 \\ \frac13g&=14 \\ g&=\fbox{42}. \end{align}

Answer: 42