A thief steals plants. The thief is forced to give one half of his plants to three security guards, plus 2. He leaves with 1 plant. How many did he start with

Question

Please help 

Answer 1

Who wrote this question?  It's not well written; are we to take three security guards as a unit (the unitary group receiving half of the stolen plants)?  The plus 2 evidently means that he gives another 2 plants to said unitary group.

 

If that's the case, he started with x plants, gave away ½x + 2, and 1 remained:

x - (½x + 2) = 1

 

I hope that you can solve this equation, for x.