a thief steals a number of rare plants from a nursery, on the way out the thief meets three security guards, one after another, to each security guard, the thief is forced to give one-half the plants that he still has, plus 2 more, the theif is left with one plant, how many plants were originally stolen?

Question

a thief steals a number of rare plants from a nursery, on the way out the thief meets three security guards, one after another, to each security guard, the thief is forced to give one-half the plants that he still has, plus 2 more, the theif is left with one plant, how many plants were originally stolen?
so this is how i set it up:
.5(3x+2)=1
and i get zero which is wrong

Reiny · Answer

see my reply to you here: http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1226458344.1226463337