Let's call x the total number of golf balls that Ricardo had before he lost the first 6 balls. (x - 6). Then he bought 12 more and lost 4 so basically 12 - 4 = 8 Add that to the equation: (x-6) + 8 And now that he has 18 golf balls at end of the second day the total must add to 18.
Full equation: (x-6) + 8 = 18
(x-6) + 8 = 18 (x-6) = 18 - 8 <-- Transpose (x-6) = 10 16 - 6 = 10 <-- What would x have to be inoder to make this equation true? 16! So x = 16
16 is the number of golf balls the Ricardo began with.
We'll first convert the mixed fractions to "improper" and then get their product, since the area of a rectangle is the product of its length and width.
