algebra word problem?

luck

several small blips emerged from the hollow stump, hovered briefly then shot off 1/5 of the bees flew to a cherry tree, 1/3 flew to a clover tree and 3 times the difference of these two hung out and circled the hive. how many bees were there altogether?

thank you for your help

grunfeld

u = ( 1 / 5 )x

y = ( 1 / 3)u

z = 3 ( u - y )

z = 2u

x = 5u

u + y + z = u

5u + 2u + u = u

anonymous

Let "b" be the total number of bees. Then b/5 flew to a cherry tree, b/3 flew to the clover tree, and 3(b/3 - b/5) circled the hive. If all three of these groups has to add up to the total number of bees, which is b, then:

(b/5) + (b/3) + 3(b/3 - b/5) = b

You would then solve this for b, but I think the only real solution you get is b=0. So something about the problem isn't clear.