Once again....a stunned parent....anyway, I have an 11 year old daughter that is in 5th grade..she brought home the following question and we can not figure it out....can you PLEASE HELP!!!

Tonya was helping in the orange grove. She decided to take some oranges home to share with 3 friends. She gave 3 more than half to Jennifer. Angela got half the remainder and 3 more. She gave Josie half the remainder plus three. When she got home, she had only 10 oranges left. How many did she have when she left the grove?

Thank you so much for your help!!!!

Hi,

This is a problem of the type I call "working backwards". Tonya had 10 oranges when she got back home. Her last act was to give Josie half her oranges plus 3 and she then had 10 remaining. Thus she had 13 oranges after she gave Josie half the oranges she had. Hence she had 26 oranges before she gave any to Josie.

Check: Tonya had 26 oranges and she gave half to Josie Plus 3 oranges. Thus she gave Josie 13 + 3 leaving herself with 10.

Hence after Angela she had 26 oranges. She gave Angela half her oranges plus 3, hence she had 26 + 3 = 29 oranges after she gave Angela half. Thus she had 2 x 29 = 58 oranges when she met Angela.

Check: Tonya had 58 oranges and she gave Angela half plus 3, that is 29 + 3 = 32 leaving her with 58 - 32 = 26.

Now do Jennifer and check.

Cheers,
Penny
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