Uncle Joe made chocolate chip cookies. Peter ate fifty percent of them right away. Jack ate fifty percent of what was left. Fourteen cookies remain. How many cookies did Uncle Joe make?
Let J be the number that Uncle Joe started with
And we have that
J ( .50) (.50) = 14
J * .25 = 14
J = 14 / .25 = 56
Proof
When Peter ate 1/2 of these 56.... 28 remain
When Jack ate 1/2 of these 28.... 14 remain