Question

A piece of string is cut in half, so thata one half can be used to bundle newspapers for recycling. One thrid of the remaining string is cut off and used to tie a parcel. The leftover string is 2m. How long was the whole piece of string?

Answer 1

The whole string was 2.4m. If you take 1/3 of 1/2x, you are just taking 1/6x. You know that what remains is 2m, and that it's the remaining 5/6. So you divide 2 by 5 and multiply that by six to get 2.4.