SOLUTION: I have a word problem that I'm trying to help my child with. I have the answer, but can't visualize how to get to it. I need help please. Here goes: Stu had quite a collection

Question 799605: I have a word problem that I'm trying to help my child with. I have the answer, but can't visualize how to get to it. I need help please. Here goes:
Stu had quite a collection of baseball cards. One day he decided to give half of them to his brother Seth. Then he gave one-third of what he had left to a friend. Then he gave half of what was left to another friend. Stu now has 50 baseball cards. How many did he start with? It seems that I should work backwards, but I'll be darned if I can figure out how. The answer is 300. This is a math enrichment problem in his homeschool co-op binder from Evan-Moor 6th grade. Any help would be appreciated as to how to do and explain why we are doing what we are doing. Lisa T.
Answer by mananth(16946) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Stu had quite a collection of baseball cards. One day he decided to give half of them to his brother Seth. Then he gave one-third of what he had left to a friend. Then he gave half of what was left to another friend. Stu now has 50 baseball cards. How many did he start with? It seems that I should work
let Stu have x cards
he gave half to seth
so he had x/2 cards
He had x/2 he gave 1/3 of x/2 to a friend
=x/6.
Now he had x/2 - x/6 = x/3 with him balance
1/2 of x/3 he gave to another friend =x/6
Balance he had was x/3 - x/6 = x/6
x/6 = 50
multiply by 6
x= 300
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