Question at the bottom...

Question

On Tuesday Jaidee bought four boxes. On Wednesday half of all the boxes that she had were destroyed. On Thursday there were only 17 left. How many did she have on Monday?

Answer 1

Assuming she started with n boxes on Monday, the information translates into

 

n + 4 - (1/2)(n + 4) = 17

 

n/2 + 2 = 17

 

n = 2(17 - 2) = 30

Answer 2

Work backward and opposite.

 

The 17 left are half, so before Wednesday, she had 2(17) = 34.

 

This 34 was after buying 4 boxes. 34 - 4 = 30 boxes