Marcel goes to the store with Dale to buy groceries for cooking dinner. Marcel buys 10 ears of corn, and Dale buys half that amount. Dale buys 8 potatoes and Marcel buys some, too. If they check out together and end up buying 27 vegetables, how many potatoes did Marcel buy? Let's be accurate as possible.
Marcel bought 10 ears of corn and Dale bought 1 / 2 what Marcel did, 10 x 1 / 2 = 10 / 2 = 5 ears of corn that Dale bought. Together, Marcel and Dale bought 10 + 5 = 15 ears of corn, or 15 vegetables. They end up buying 27 vegetables total, and from those 27, 15 of them were corn. The rest of the vegetables are potatoes, 27 vegetables - 15 ears of corn = 12 potatoes. Dale bought 8 potatoes, so Marcel bought 12 - 8 = 4 potatoes.
The answer: 4.