How many pigeons were left?

Question

Bad Bargle snuck into Homer's pigeon loft. He took half of the pigeons. He decided that wasn't enough, so he took 3 more and left. Later, Homer opened the door of the loft to exercise his przied posessions. Half of the remaining flock flew out, leaving six inside the pen. How many pigeons did Homer have before Bad Bargle did his dirty deed?

Answer 1

Hi Shelby--let's do this!

 

You need to work backwards: at the end of the problem, "half of the remaining flock flew out, leaving six."

 

That means that there had been 12 just before that point. (Because half of them flew out and there were 6 left.) Good so far? Good.  :-)

 

OK, right before that, the bad guy had taken 3. Which means that there were 15 before he took the 3, because 12 left plus 3 taken = 15. still with me? awesome... next:

 

The 15 was half of the original number. 15 is half of ... (you got this!) ... 30 pigeons at the beginning.

 

But it's early in the morning, so let's double check. If there were 30 at the beginning, and Bad Bargle (nice name btw) took half, it means he took 15 and left 15. Then he came back and took 3 more, leaving a total of 12. When Homer opens the door, half of those 12 (which means 6) fly out, leaving the other 6 behind. BOOM.

 

Done and done, right? HOPE THIS HELPED.

 

Matt