document.write( "Question 1061350: Thomas went to the store and spent half of his money and then $8 more. He went to a second store, spent half of his remaining money and then $8 more. Given that he had $7 left, how many dollars did he start with? \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #676160 by ikleyn(52788) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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\n" ); document.write( "Thomas went to the store and spent half of his money and then $8 more. He went to a second store, spent half
\n" ); document.write( "of his remaining money and then $8 more. Given that he had $7 left, how many dollars did he start with?
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document.write( "I will solve the problem without using equations, by moving from the end to the beginning.\r\n" );
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document.write( "1.  In the second store Thomas spent half of his remaining money and then $8 more;  after that he had $7 left. \r\n" );
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document.write( "    In other words,  \r\n" );
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document.write( "         \"remaining money\" - (\"half of his remaining money\" + $8) = $7.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    It implies that \r\n" );
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document.write( "         \"remaining money\" - \"half of his remaining money\" = $7 + $8 = $15,   or\r\n" );
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document.write( "         \"half of his remaining money\" = $15.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    It implies, in turn, that \"remaining money\" = $30.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    So, we derived that \"remaining money\" amount after shopping in the first store was $30.\r\n" );
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document.write( "2.  In the first store Thomas spent half of his money and then $8 more;  after that he had $30 left  (as we just concluded from the step #1). \r\n" );
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document.write( "    In other words,  \r\n" );
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document.write( "         \"Total original money\" - (\"half of the total original money\" + $8) = $7.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    It implies that \r\n" );
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document.write( "         \"The total original money\" - \"half of the total original money\" = $30 + $8 = $38,   or\r\n" );
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document.write( "         \"half of the total original money\" = $38.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    Now, everybody can conclude that \"total original money\" = two times $38,  or $76.\r\n" );
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document.write( "Answer. Thomas started with $76.\r\n" );
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "The solution by \"LynnMomo\" is wrong.\r
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