In the first act of a play all the actors were on stage. The second act opened with 1/2 the actors onstage and then 5 actors left. After that 1/2 the remaining actors left, and 4 actors remained on stage. How many actors were onstage in the first act?

Answer 1

number of actors on stage in first act --- x
number of actors on stage at end of 2nd act = x/2 - 5
then 1/2 of those left, leaving us with:
(1/2)(x/2 - 5) = 4
x/2 - 5 = 8
x/2 = 13
x = 26