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. Each puzzle cost $ ?

Question

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Answer 1

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

Since each puzzle is discounted by 50¢ (or $0.50), the discounted price that Molly pays for each puzzle is \( x - 0.50 \).

Molly has 6 grandchildren, so she buys 6 puzzles. The total cost for the puzzles Molly bought can be expressed as:

\[ 6(x - 0.50) \]

According to the problem, she spent a total of $27, so we can set up the equation:

\[ 6(x - 0.50) = 27 \]

Now, we can simplify and solve for \( x \):

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

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

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

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