Molly has 6 grandchildren> She likes to be fair and buy gifts for all of them at the same time. She found jigsaw puzzles, each discounted by 50cents. Find the original cost of each puzzle if she spent a total of $27

Question

Each puzzle cost $___

Answer 1

Let's denote the original cost of each puzzle as \( x \).

Molly has 6 grandchildren, so she buys 6 puzzles. If each puzzle is discounted by 50 cents, the cost for each puzzle after the discount is \( x - 0.50 \).

The total amount Molly spent on the puzzles can be expressed as: \[ 6(x - 0.50) = 27 \]

Now, let's solve the equation step by step:

1. Distribute the 6: \[ 6x - 3 = 27 \]

2. Add 3 to both sides: \[ 6x = 30 \]

3. Divide both sides by 6: \[ x = 5 \]

Thus, the original cost of each puzzle is \( \boxed{5} \).