Final answer:
The student's question does not provide enough information to determine the exact initial number of copies the newsdealer had. We can only infer that the newsdealer had at least 87 copies before selling a dozen, as fewer than 75 were left afterwards.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question posted by the student involves determining the initial number of copies a newsdealer had given that after selling a dozen copies, fewer than 75 were left. However, without additional information, we cannot calculate the exact number of copies the newsdealer originally had. The only thing we can determine is that the newsdealer had at least 87 copies originally (75 + 12 from the sold dozen), but the upper limit is not given.