Give the step-by-step reasoning process and then the final answer. Blake gave some of his money to his friend, Connie. Connie used all the money she had been given to buy some land. In one year, the land tripled in value. So, she sold the land and gave half of all the money she got from the sale of the land to Blake. If Connie gave Blake $30,000, how much money, in dollars, did Blake initially give to Connie?
If half the value of what Connie sold the land for was $30,000, then the full value was $30,000 * 2 = $60,000. If $60,000 is triple what Connie bought the land for, then the initial cost, which is the amount given to her by Blake, was $60,000 / 3 = $20,000.
The final answer: 20000.