Question

Sam bought 8 new baseball cards to add to his collection. The next day his dog ate half of the collection. There are now only 25 cards left how many cards did Sam start with

Answer 1

His original amount is represented by x
so sam bought 8 baseball cards (x+8)
then next day, dog ate 1/2 so we now have 1/2
1/2 was now 25
so we have
$\frac{x+8}{2} =25$
multily both sides by 2
x+8=50
subtract 8
42=x
oriinal amount=42 cards