Question

I cant believe how bad my brother, Reuben, is at growing things. He bought a whole bunch of plants at the nursery the other day. Right away, five died. Then our dog dug up 2/9 of them. Then a rabbit came and ate ½ of what was left. Reuben had only seven plants left. How many did he buy at the nursery

Answer 1

68 plants.

Explanation:

Let x represent the number of plants that Reuben bought from the nursery.

We have been given that Reuben bought a whole bunch of plants at the nursery the other day. Right away, five died. So number of plant left would be
`x-5`.

We are also told that then our dog dug up 2/9 of them. So number of plants left after dug-up would be
`(2)/(9)(x-5)`.

Further a rabbit came and ate ½ of what was left. So number of plants left would be
`((2)/(9)(x-5))/(2)=(2)/(9* 2)(x-5)=(1)/(9)(x-5)`.

Since Reuben had only 7 plants left, so we will equate our expression with 7 and solve for x as:

`(1)/(9)(x-5)=7`

`9* (1)/(9)(x-5)=7* 9`

`x-5=63`

`x-5+5=63+5`

`x=68`

Therefore, Reuben bought 68 plants at the nursery.