Question

There were some pieces of candy in a bowl. Aaliyah took half of the pieces of candy.

Then Tehgan took half of the pieces left in the bowl. After that Juliette took half of the
remaining pieces. In the end. there were 6 pieces of candy in the bowl. How many
pieces of candy were in the bowl at the beginning?

Answer 1

Let's work backwards from the end to find out how many pieces of candy were in the bowl at the beginning.

At the end, there were 6 pieces of candy left in the bowl.

Before Juliette took half of the remaining pieces, there must have been 2 × 6 = 12 pieces in the bowl.

Before Tehgan took half of the pieces left, there must have been 2 × 12 = 24 pieces in the bowl.

Before Aaliyah took half of the pieces, there must have been 2 × 24 = 48 pieces in the bowl.

Therefore, there were 48 pieces of candy in the bowl at the beginning.