Final answer:
To determine the original number of shoes Sandy owned, we need to reverse the process of her purchase and halving her shoe collection. After buying 6 pairs, Sandy had her collection cut in half to reach 58 pairs, so she originally had 110 pairs before purchasing the additional 6 pairs. None of the provided answer choices are correct, but the question is based on understanding equations and the use of operations such as addition and multiplication.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student asks how many shoes Sandy owned at the start, given that she ended with 58 pairs after buying 6 new pairs and cutting the total in half. To find the original number of pairs, we need to set up the correct equation and solve for s, where s represents the starting number of pairs.
Before Sandy cut the number in half and after buying the 6 new pairs, we know that she had 58 pairs * 2 (since the total number was cut in half to get 58). We can express this as s + 6 = 58 * 2. By simplifying, we find s + 6 = 116. To solve for s, we subtract 6 from both sides of the equation, which gives s = 116 - 6 or s = 110.
The correct equation represents the total Sandy had after doubling 58, then subtracting the 6 pairs she bought. None of the choices given (A, B, C, or D) correctly represent this situation, but the closest incorrect one presented is C) s / 2 - 6 = 58; s = 116, which has the correct total number of pairs after buying 6 pairs (s = 116) but the wrong operation (should be s + 6 = 116, not s / 2 - 6 = 58).
So, Sandy owned 110 pairs of shoes at the start before she bought 6 more pairs and then cut the total number in half.