Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2026

Algebra Difficulty 2.5 Junior Find the answer Canada

The height of a stack of identical newspapers is 50 cm50~\text{cm}. Half of the newspapers are
removed from the stack. Then 15\frac{1}{5} of those removed are put back
onto the stack. What is the height of the stack now?

Pick one

Solution

Half of the stack, or $25\$25\text{}
cm}, is removed from the stack and so 2525\text{} cm}$ remains in the stack.

Of the 25 cm25\text{ cm} removed, 15×25 cm=5 cm\dfrac15\times 25\text{ cm}=5\text{ cm}
are put back onto the stack.

The final height of the stack is $25 cm+5 cm=30\$25\text{ cm}+5\text{ cm}=30\text{} cm}$.

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.