A box contains some red, blue and white marbles. There is a total of 65 red marbles and blue marbles. There is a total of 35 red marbles and white marbles. The number of blue marbles is thrice the number of white marbles. What fraction of the marbles is red?
I think there’s a typo - It should say what fraction of the marbles are red, but never mind that… haha
Let $r, b, w \in \text{red, blue, white}.$
$r+b = 65. (1)$
$r+w = 35. (2)$
$b=3w. (3)$
(2) & (3) $\Rightarrow r+3w = 65. (4)$
$\frac{(4) - (2)}{2} \Rightarrow \frac{2w}{2} = 30 \div 2 \Rightarrow w = 15 (5)$
(5) & (3) $\Rightarrow b = 45 (6)$
(6) & (1)$ \Rightarrow r = 20 (7)$
Steps to get desired answer: $\frac{(7)}{(7)+(6)+(5)} \Rightarrow \frac{20}{20+45+15} \Rightarrow \frac{20}{80} = \frac{1}{4}.$
Thus, the answer is $\boxed{\frac{1}{4}}$