Question

1. At the end of one school day a teacher had 17 crayons left. The teacher remembered

giving out 14 crayons in the morning, getting 12 crayons back at recess, and giving out
11 crayons after lunch. How many crayons did the teacher have at the start of the
day?

Answer 1

Answer: 30

Explanation:

For this problem work backwards. Start from 17 and add 14. You should get 31. Then subtract 12, which equals 19. Finally add 11 to 19, which equals 30. Basically you are doing the inverse operation to get your answer. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

30 crayons

Explanation:

Let x be the number of crayons he started with

gave out 14 crayons

x-14

Got 12 back

x-14+12

Gave out 11 after lunch

x-14+12 -11

This equals 17

x-14+12 -11 =17

Combine like terms

x-13 = 17

Add 13 to each side

x -13+13 =17+13

x = 30