Question

John gave half of his stamps to Jim. Jim gave gave half of his stamps to Carla. Carla gave 1/4 of the stamps given to her to Thomas and kept the remaining 12. How many stamps did John start with?

Answer 1

This question wants you to reverse the operations that occurred.

Start with 12 stamps.

Divide this number by 3/4. This represents Carla giving 1/4 of the stamps to Thomas.


`12 / (3)/(4) = 16`

Multiply this number by 2. This represents Jim giving half of the stamps to Carla.


`16 * 2 = 32`

Multiply this number by 2. This represents John giving half of his stamps to Jim.


`32 * 2 = 64`

John started out with 64 stamps.