document.write( "Question 1187522: Donna baught a notebook for $3.50 and then spent half of her remaining money for a textbook. Next she baught sheet music for $4 and then spent half of the remaining money on a calculator. She has $8 left. How much money did she start with? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #818525 by ikleyn(52786)\"\" \"About 
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\n" ); document.write( "Donna \"highlight%28cross%28baught%29%29\" bought a notebook for $3.50 and then spent half of her remaining money for a textbook.
\n" ); document.write( "Next she \"highlight%28cross%28baught%29%29\" bought sheet music for $4 and then spent half of the remaining money on a calculator.
\n" ); document.write( "She has $8 left. How much money did she start with?
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "                It is a nice problem to solve it in the backward manner.\r
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document.write( "Make the sheet of her purchases, step by step:\r\n" );
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document.write( "    1.   bought a notebook for $3.50\r\n" );
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document.write( "    2.  spent half of her remaining money for a textbook\r\n" );
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document.write( "    3.  bought the sheet music for $4.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    4.  spent half of the remaining money on a calculator.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    5.  she has $8 left.\r\n" );
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document.write( "Now we will move from the bottom to the top.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    - before step 4, she had twice $8, i.e 16 dollars.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    - before step 3, sha had  16 + 4 = 20 dollars.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    - before step 2, she had twice $20, i.e. 40 dollars.\r\n" );
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document.write( "    - before step 1, she had 40 + 3.50 = 43.50 dollars.\r\n" );
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document.write( "It is what she started with.\r\n" );
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document.write( "You may check that my solution and my answer are correct at each step, moving from step 1 to the end.\r\n" );
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Solved.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Nice method, isn't it ?\r
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