I have purchased 5 blue apples at the store. Suppose my neighbor gives me twice as many yellow apples as I have blue ones, and then I give my son 1/5 of the total number of apples; how many apples do I have now?
Thoughts? Step-by-step reasoning:
The number of blue apples is 5, and if you receive twice as many yellow apples as the number of blue apples, there will be 5 * 2 = 10 yellow apples. After receiving the yellow apples, you now have 10 yellow apples + 5 blue apples = 15 apples. When you give 1 / 5 of the total number of apples to the son, you part with 1 / 5 * 15 = 3 apples. The total number of apples remaining is 15 - 3 = 12 apples.
Thus, the answer is 12.