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flyinvisible

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Mrs carlyle bought a bag of peanuts for her children,Philip, joy, brent, & preston took peanuts from the bag
Philip took 1/3 of the peanuts from the bag
Joy took 1/4 of the REMAINING peanuts from the bag
Brent took 1/2 of the REMAINING Peanuts from the bag
Preston took 10 peanuts
There were 71 remaining peanuts in the bag.
How many were there initially in the bag??

Please post an explanation.
Thanks
 
Mrs carlyle bought a bag of peanuts for her children,Philip, joy, brent, & preston took peanuts from the bag
Philip took 1/3 of the peanuts from the bag
Joy took 1/4 of the REMAINING peanuts from the bag
Brent took 1/2 of the REMAINING Peanuts from the bag
Preston took 10 peanuts
There were 71 remaining peanuts in the bag.
How many were there initially in the bag??

Please post an explanation.
Which part is confusing you? Which part do you need to have explained? For instance, you started at the end, noting how many were left over. Then you added in the amount that Preston took. Since Preston took his from the "half of what was left" that had been handed to Brent, you multiplied to find the amount that had originally been handed to Brent. And so forth.

At what point have you ground to a halt? Please be complete. Thank you! ;)
 
A slightly different attack: Philip took 1/3 of the peanuts, leaving 2/3 of the original amount. Joy took 1/4 of that 2/3, which is (1/4)(2/3)= 1/6 of the original amount, leaving 2/3- 1/6= 3/6= 1/2 of the original amount. Brent took 1/2 of the remaining amount (1/2)(1/2)= 1/4 of the original amount and leaving 1/2- 1/4= 1/4 of the original amount. Preston took 10 peanuts leaving 71 so there were 81 peanuts before Preston took his and after Brent took his: 1/4 of the original amount was 81.
 
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