I suck at word problems ...?

Question

Collin bought a box of cookies, gave half to his sister, ate half of theose left and threw half a cookie away. Later he shared half his cookies with his father, ate half of those remaining and discarded half a cookie. Finally he shared his cookies with his mother, ate half his share and threw away the last half cookie. How many cookies did he start with?

I feel a wee bit stupid at the moment, but what can I say? Word problems have never been a strong point for me.. help? Please and thank you.

That`s kinda why I didn`t get it at all. It doesn`t tell any numbers except half of this and that.. but so far, thanks for the help

Answer 1

x = number of cookies
x/2 = after giving half to sis
x/4 = after eating half his share
x/4 - 1/2 = after discarding half a cookie
(x/4 - 1/2)/2 = after sharing with dad
(x/4 - 1/2)/4 = after eating half of what's left
(x/4 -1/2)/4 - 1/2 = after discarding half a cookie
[(x/4 - 1/2) - 1/2]/2 = after sharing with mum
[(x/4 - 1/2)/4 - 1/2]/4 = after eating half his share
{[(x/4 - 1/2)/4 - 1/2]/4} - 1/2 = 0 after throwing half a cookie
x = 42 cookies

Answer 2

Just separate the bits of information one peice at a time. ^^
so...
From one box...
half to his sister,
ate half of those left,
threw half a cookie away.

shared half his cookies with his father,
ate half of those remaining and discarded half a cookie.

shared his cookies with his mother,
ate half his share and threw away the last half cookie.

So, It's just a series of dividing and subtracting. Do they give you any other infomation to go off of? Becuase you can't just pull numbers out of your ***. ¬¬;;

But take it one step at a time on paper. ^_^

Answer 3

There isn't enough information. You can't know how many cookies he started with without some number to go on.

Answer 4

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