Bert has three times as much money as Ernie. If Ernie spends $6 on a new rubber ducky, then Bert will have five times as much money as Ernie. How much money does Bert have?

Bert has $45.

Step-by-step explanation:

I have no real strategy, except for that I used guess and check. How did I do this? Well, since I am in 5th Grade, I don't know algebra very well, so I made an organized chart and checked all the numbers that had to be a multiple and  could be divided equally by 5, 3 and when a third of that number was subtracted by 6, it was a fifth of the orginal number. Thats how I got 45.

Checking this

It is always important to check your answer after finishing the problem, so this is how I checked my

1. 45 divided by 3 = 15

2. 15 - 6 = 9, and 9 is 1/5 of 45

Bert has $45.