Anne drops a mirror and breaks it into 60 pieces. She sweeps up half of them, then her cat steals 3 pieces and her boyfriend picks up 1/3 of the remaining pieces. How many pieces does her boyfriend pick up? Let's answer step by step:
First find the number of pieces left after Anne sweeps up: 60 pieces / 2 = 30 pieces. Then subtract the number her cat takes: 30 pieces - 3 pieces = 27 pieces. Divide that number by 3 to find how many pieces her boyfriend picks up: 27 pieces / 3 = 9 pieces. The answer: 9.