There are x students in Mrs. Schwartz's third-grade class. One less than half the students have blue eyes. Six fewer children have green eyes than have blue eyes. The rest of the students have brown eyes. How many students have brown eyes?

Question

a. 7
b. 8
c. (x/2)-7
d. x-7
e. x-8

please answer and explain

Answer 1

blue: x/2 - 1
green = blue-6

brown = x - blue - green
= x - (x/2 - 1) - ((x/2 - 1)-6)
= 8

Answer 2

x-(x/2+1)-[(x/2+1)-6]
Step 1: Distributive property
x-x/2-1-x/2-1-6
Step 2: Combine like terms
x-2x/2-8
x-x-8
0-8
Step 3: Solve
-8