From a bag of peanuts, phillip took 1/3, then joy took 1/4 of the remaining, brent took 1/2 of the remaining, and preston took 10. There were 71 peanuts remaining....how many were there to start?

let the number of peanuts be x

Phil took 1/3 of those, leaving 2x/3

Joy took 1/4 of those leaving (3/4)(2x/3) or x/2

Brent took 1/2 of those, leaving (1/2)(x/2) = x/4

Preston took 10 , finally giving us
x/4 - 10 = 71
x/4 = 81
x = 324

There were 324 peanuts

Can someone please put a less complex explanation on how to get the total number of peanuts, 324?

when you divide 324 from how many kids the took peanuts you will get our answer which will come out to each child gets 81 peanuts from the bag.

Not helping

Can you a better simplified answer. This is seventh grade Math!!!

To determine the original number of peanuts, we can work our way backwards from the remaining quantity of 71 peanuts.

Let's break down the process step by step:

1. Phillip took 1/3 of the peanuts. So, after Phillip took his share, the remaining peanuts would be (2/3) of the original amount.

2. Joy took 1/4 of the remaining peanuts, which means she took (1/4) * (2/3) = 2/12 = 1/6 of the original quantity.

3. After Joy took her share, the remaining peanuts would be (1 - 1/6) = 5/6 of the original amount.

4. Brent took 1/2 of the remaining peanuts, which is (1/2) * (5/6) = 5/12 of the original quantity.

5. Finally, after Brent took his share, the remaining peanuts would be (1 - 5/12) = 7/12 of the original amount, which is equal to 71 peanuts.

Now, let's calculate the original number of peanuts:

(7/12) * (original quantity) = 71

To isolate the original quantity, multiply both sides of the equation by (12/7):

(original quantity) = 71 * (12/7)
(original quantity) = 122.57

Since we can't have a fraction or a decimal number of peanuts, we can conclude that the original number of peanuts must have been 122.

you can do this