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 50¢. Find the original cost of each puzzle if she spent a total of $27.

Question

Each puzzle cost $

Answer 1

Let the original cost of each puzzle be \( x \).

Since Molly has 6 grandchildren and she buys one puzzle for each, the total cost of the puzzles before the discount is: \[ 6x \]

Given that each puzzle is discounted by 50¢ (or $0.50), the total discounted cost is: \[ 6x - 6(0.50) = 6x - 3 \]

According to the problem, Molly spent a total of $27 on the puzzles, so we can set up the following equation: \[ 6x - 3 = 27 \]

Now, we will solve for \( x \):

1. Add 3 to both sides: \[ 6x = 27 + 3 \] \[ 6x = 30 \]

2. Divide both sides by 6: \[ x = \frac{30}{6} \] \[ x = 5 \]

Thus, the original cost of each puzzle is: \[ \boxed{5} \]