A bus starts from Chandigarh. The number of men are thrice the number of women in the bus. At Ambala 12 men leave the bus and 16 women enter the bus. Now number of men and women are equal. In the beginning, how many passengers entered the bus?

Given:

Let the number of women in the bus initially be W.

The number of men in the bus initially = 3W (thrice the number of women).

At Ambala, 12 men leave the bus and 16 women enter the bus.

After this, the number of men and women becomes equal.

Formula used:

Initially, Total passengers = Men + Women = 3W + W = 4W

After changes: (3W - 12) = (W + 16)

Calculations:

⇒ 3W - 12 = W + 16

⇒ 3W - W = 16 + 12

⇒ 2W = 28

⇒ W = 14

Initially, Total passengers = 4W = 4 × 14 = 56

∴ The correct answer is option (1).