Thread: Videotapes in Library

Jose and Mike are members of a school video club. They were discussing sharing
homemade videotapes. When Jose asked to borrow Mike's videos, Mike replied:
"Each video completely fills one videotape. I have just one videotape at
home. However, I used to have lots of tapes. I gave 1/2 of my videotapes plus
1/2 a tape to Joanne. I gave 1/2 of my remaining videotapes and a 1/2 tape to
Maritza. Lastly, I gave 1/2 of my remaining videotapes and a 1/2 tape to
Jeff. How many videotapes did Mike have originally? Why could JoAnne,
Maritza and Jeff Watch all of the videotapes that Mike gave them? If the video
club used the procedure Mike followed and gave videotapes to 12 students, how
many tapes did they have in their library?

Let x be the number of tapes before he gave some to Jeff. Then x - x/2 - 1/2 = 1. By going backwards this way, you can find the original number of tapes.

I don't follow here. Can you do this for me?

Let's suppose that Mike had x tapes before giving some to Jeff.

Originally Posted by RTC1996

Lastly, I gave 1/2 of my remaining videotapes (i.e., x/2 of x) and a 1/2 tape to Jeff.

After that, Mike had 1 tape, i.e., x - x/2 - 1/2 = 1.

If you need further help, please describe what exactly you are having difficulty with.