Maria bought seven boxes. A week later half of all her boxes were destroyed in a fire. There are now

Publish date: 2024-07-04
Maria bought seven boxes. A week later half of all her boxes were destroyed in a fire. There are now only 22 boxes left. How many did she start with?

Take this in parts

  • Maria starts with b boxes.
  • She buys seven more. So she has b + 7 boxes
  • A week later, half of all her boxes are destroyed in a fire. Which means she's left with 1/2. (b + 7)/2
  • Now she has 22 boxes. So we set (b + 7)/2 = 22
    • (b + 7)/2 = 22

    Cross multiply:
    b + 7 = 22 * 2
    b + 7 = 44

    Typing this equation into our search engine and solving for b, we get:
    b = 37

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