I ate 1/4 of a bag of pretzels, then ate 1/2 of what was left. There are 6 pretzels left. How many were in the bag to start?

Answer 1

So you ate 1/4 of them, which leaves 3/4...

then you ate 1/2 of 3/4 = 3/8 of them

so you ate 1/4 + 3/8 = 2/8 + 3/8 = 5/8

So then 3/8 remain , which is 6 pretzels

3/8 X = 6

X = 6 * 8/3 = 16

CHECK:

16 pretzels in the bag.

You ate 1/4 of them, so you ate 4.

That leaves 12.

You ate half of that, so ate 6.

That leaves 6.

16 pretzels