You collect baseball cards. Suppose you start out with 17. Maria takes half of one more than the number of baseball cards you have. Since you're nice, you give Peter 1 baseball card. Since his father makes baseball cards, Paul decides to triple your baseball cards. How many baseball cards do you have at the end?  Select:  A) 17  B) 18  C) 19  D) 20  E) 21
Solution   Start with 17 baseball cards.   Maria takes half of one more than the number of baseball cards you have. So Maria takes half of 17 + 1 which is 9,   so you're left with   17 - 9= 
<gadget id="calculator">  17 - 9</gadget>
<output>8</output>
8.   Peter takes 1 baseball card from you:  8 - 1= 
<gadget id="calculator"> 8 - 1</gadget>
<output>7</output>
7 baseball cards.   Paul triples the number of baseball cards you have: 7 Ã— 3= 21 baseball cards.   So you have 21 at the end.   Correct answer : 21
<result>E</result>
You collect baseball cards. Suppose you start out with 17. Maria takes half of one more than the number of baseball cards you have. Since you're nice, you give Peter 1 baseball card. Since his father makes baseball cards, Paul decides to triple your baseball cards. How many baseball cards do you have at the end?