How many golf balls did Ricardo have to begin with?

Question

Ricardo lost 6 golf balls while playing yesterday. He bought a box of 12 golf balls, then lost 4 on the course today. He now has 18 golf balls. How many golf balls did Ricardo have to begin with? 

Answer 1

Hi Vanessa

 

Lets call x the total number of golf balls that Ricardo had before he lost the first 6 balls. Then, when he finished to play the first day, he returne to home with (x - 6) golf balls.

 

In the second day, he bought 12 balls more. Then, at this moment he had (x-6) + 12 balls.

 

Because, he lost 4 golf balls during the second play, the final number of balls that he had was (x-6) + 12 - 4.

 

In other words, Ricardo hold (x -6) + 8 golf balls at the end of the second game. From the input data of this problem, Ricardo only had 18 balls at the end of the second day. It means,

 

(x - 6) + 8 = 18

 

x - 6 + 8 = 18      resolving x,   x= 16   Ricardo begun with 16 golf balls.      I hope it is clear and helped you.