dave13
niks18 many thanks for your kind explanation. yes, highlihed yellow part was a typo.
One question: why as general rule we should assume the lowest quantity as a variable, and not the highest quantity ?
have a great weelend
thank you!

Hi
dave13You can choose the variable for highest quantity as well but in that case there will be two scenarios.
Suppose you choose rate of Pump1 as x then Pump 2=x/2 & pump3=x/4. now as you can see the variable are in fraction and its generally easy to work with whole numbers than fractions.
so if you are starting with highest number, then use smart variable. let rate of pump1 be 4x, then pump 2=2x and pump3=x (essentially this is same as saying let rate of pump3=x)