document.write( "Question 1120494: a thief steals a number of plants from a nursery. on the way out he meets three guards one after another. to each guard he is forced to give half of the plants he still had plus 2. he leaves with 15. how many were originally stolen? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #736174 by josmiceli(19441)\"\" \"About 
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Let \"+x+\" = number originally stolen
\n" ); document.write( "After 1st guard, he has
\n" ); document.write( "\"+x+-+x%2F2+-+2+\"
\n" ); document.write( "After 2nd guard, he has
\n" ); document.write( "\"+x%2F2+-+2+-+x%2F4+%2B+1+-+2+\"
\n" ); document.write( "After the 3rd guard he has
\n" ); document.write( "\"+x%2F4+-+3+-+x%2F8+%2B+3%2F2+-+2+\"
\n" ); document.write( "And
\n" ); document.write( "\"+x%2F8+-+7%2F2+=+15+\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"+x%2F8+=+7%2F2+%2B+30%2F2\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"+x%2F8+=+37%2F2+\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"+x+=+4%2A37+\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"+x+=+148+\"
\n" ); document.write( "He stole 148 plants
\n" ); document.write( "———————-
\n" ); document.write( "Check
\n" ); document.write( "\"+148+-+74+-+2+=+72+\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"+72+-+36+-+2+=+34+\"
\n" ); document.write( "\"+34+-+17+-+2+=+15+\"
\n" ); document.write( "OK\r
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