7th grade tricky word problem

mayblue97

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Oct 1, 2009
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1) The cat had kittens. I gave half of them, plus half a kitten to my brother. Then I gave half of the remainder, plus half a kitten to my sister. No kittens were harmed and I still have one kitten. How many kittens did the cat have?

2) Gloria is new in town. She has a job, but no paycheck until the end of the week. She has enough cash for food, but not for lodgings. She does have a heavy gold bracelet in the form of a chain of seven links. She and the hotel clerk agree that each link is worth about the price of a night's lodging. Since he won't trust her to pay at the end of the week, she doesn't want to turn the whole bracelet over to him. She decides to have a jeweler cut the bracelet so she can pay for each night as it comes. She wants to pay the jeweler to make the fewest possible number of cuts (and solders later to restore the bracelet). How should she tell him to cut the links?

Please Help!!
 
mayblue97 said:
1) The cat had kittens. I gave half of them, plus half a kitten to my brother. Then I gave half of the remainder, plus half a kitten to my sister. No kittens were harmed and I still have one kitten. How many kittens did the cat have?

Start working backwards - after you have given kittens to your sister you have 1 kitten.

How many kittens did you have before you gave kittens to your sister? - must be an odd number to handle half a kitten

2) Gloria is new in town. She has a job, but no paycheck until the end of the week. She has enough cash for food, but not for lodgings. She does have a heavy gold bracelet in the form of a chain of seven links. She and the hotel clerk agree that each link is worth about the price of a night's lodging. Since he won't trust her to pay at the end of the week, she doesn't want to turn the whole bracelet over to him. She decides to have a jeweler cut the bracelet so she can pay for each night as it comes. She wants to pay the jeweler to make the fewest possible number of cuts (and solders later to restore the bracelet). How should she tell him to cut the links?

Start thinking about # of cuts needed if you had 3 links - then four links, etc.

Please Help!!
 
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