Question 1061350
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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?
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I will solve the problem without using equations, by moving from the end to the beginning.


1.  <U>In the second store</U> Thomas spent half of his remaining money and then $8 more;  after that he had $7 left. 

    In other words,  

         "remaining money" - ("half of his remaining money" + $8) = $7.

    It implies that 

         "remaining money" - "half of his remaining money" = $7 + $8 = $15,   or

         "half of his remaining money" = $15.

    It implies, in turn, that "remaining money" = $30.

    So, we derived that "remaining money" amount after shopping in the first store was $30.



2.  <U>In the first store</U> Thomas spent half of his money and then $8 more;  after that he had $30 left  (as we just concluded from the step #1). 

    In other words,  

         "Total original money" - ("half of the total original money" + $8) = $7.

    It implies that 

         "The total original money" - "half of the total original money" = $30 + $8 = $38,   or

         "half of the total original money" = $38.

    Now, everybody can conclude that "total original money" = two times $38,  or $76.


<U>Answer</U>. Thomas started with $76.
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Solved.


The solution by "LynnMomo" is wrong.