Question

Charlotte thinks of a number.

She increases it by one fifth, and then reduces that answer by one half.
She finishes with 39.
What number did she start with?

Answer 1

Charlotte started with 65.

Explanation:

In order to find what number Charlotte started with, we need to go backward. So first, multiply by 2, then multiply by 5/6. 39 multiplied by 2 is 78, which is 6/5 of the number Charlotte started with. So what we need to do is multiply 78 by 5/6. That equals 390/6, which is 65. The problem has been solved. Charlotte started with 65.