can you please use pictures or symbols that will help alot

Question

Patrick realized with dismay that his pants were getting tighter. he thought about possible reasons for this unhappy development and finally came to understand that the bowl of chocolate kisses on his desk might be at fault. He decided to reduce his chocolate habit by 3 kisses each day. On Saturday he ate fewer kisses then he had on Friday; on Sunday he ate fewer then he had on Saturday and so on through Thursday. At the end of the day on Thursday, he realized that he had eaten only 98 chocolate kisses during the last seven days. How many did he eat on the Friday he decided to cut back.

Answer 1

The total number of chocolate kisses that Patrick ate during the last 7 days was 98.

Let’s work backward.  Patrick ate:

     x number of kisses on Thursday.

    x+3 on Wednesday

    x + 6 on Tuesday

    x + 9 on Monday

    x + 12 on Sunday

    x + 15 on Saturday

    x + 18 on Friday (when he decided to cut back)

 

Now, add up those numbers:

    7x + 63 = 98

           7x = 35

            x = 5  (the number of kisses on Thursday)

 

What was the number he ate on the Friday that he decided to cut back?

     x + 18  =  23

 

 

p.s.,  If you decide to let y be the number of chocolate kisses that he ate on the Friday that he decided to cut back (once you understand the problem, it is good to assign a variable to the value the problem asks you to find), then you would start with:

    y on Friday  

    y - 3 on Saturday

    . . .

    y - 18 on the Thursday that he realized how well his diet was going (only 98 kisses in 7 days)

Total:  7y - 63 = 98

            7y = 161

                y = 23