Question: I would love to understand how to solve this problem: Andrea has 8 more apples than Jamal and half as many bananas as Jamal. Jamal has 4 more bananas than apples. How many fruits are there if Andrea has 52 apples?
Can you explain?
Answer: 
Since Andrea has 8 more apples than Jamal, if Andrea has 52 apples, Jamal has 52-8 = 44 apples.
The total number of apples is 44+52 = 96
Jamal has 4 more bananas than apples, meaning he has 44+4 = 48 bananas.
Andrea has half as many bananas as Jamal, which totals 48/2 = 24 bananas.
There are a total of 48+24 = 72 bananas.
Altogether, there are 96 apples + 72 bananas = 168 fruits