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Algebra Difficulty 1.8 Junior Find the answer

What number did Janet pick if she added 7 to the number, multiplied the sum by 2, subtracted 4, and the final result was 28?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

We undo Janet's steps to find the initial number.
To do this, we start with 28, add 4 (to get 32), then divide the sum by 2 (to get 16), then subtract 7 (to get 9).
Thus, Janet's initial number was 9.

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