Question

Moby sold half his toy car collection, and then bought 12 more cars the next day. He now has 48 toy cars. How many cars did he have to start with?

Answer 1

Answer: 72 cars.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let be "x" the number of toys that Moby had to start with.

According to the information given in the exercise, Moby sold half his toy car collection. This can be represented with the following expression:

$\frac{1}{2}x$

Then he bought 12 more cars, giving a total amount of 48 toy cars.

Therefore, the equation that represents this situation is the equation shown below:

$x-\frac{1}{2}x+12=48$

Now you must solve for "x" in order to find its value.

You get that this is:

$\frac{1}{2}x+12=48\\\\\frac{1}{2}x=48-12\\\\\frac{1}{2}x=36\\\\x=(36)(2)\\\\x=72$