Question

Sumitra puts 5 grams of seeds in her bird feeder on Sunday. On Wednesday, half of the seeds were eaten, so she put 3 grams more. On Friday, she found half were eaten. How many grams were eaten in that week?

Answer 1

Answer:  The total quantity of seeds that were eaten in the week is 5.25 grams.

Step-by-step explanation:  Given that Sumitra puts 5 grams of seeds in her bird feeder on Sunday.

On Wednesday, half of the seeds were eaten, so she put 3 grams more and on Friday, she found half were eaten again.

We are to find the quantity of seeds that were eaten in that week.

Since half of the seeds were eaten on Wednesday, so quantity of grams of seeds that were left is

$S_w=\dfrac{1}{2}\times 5=2.5~\textup{grams}.$

Quantity of seeds that were left is given by

$5-2.5=2.5~\textup{grams}.$

Since Sumitra added 3 grams more, so total quantity of seeds on Wednesday is

$2.5+3=5.5~\textup{grams}.$

Again, since she found half of the seeds eaten on Friday, so  quantity of seeds that she found eaten on Friday is

$S_f=\dfrac{1}{2}\times 5.5=2.75~\textup{grams}.$

Therefore, the total quantity of seeds that were in the week is given by

$S=S_w+S_f=2.5+2.75=5.25~\textup{grams}.$

Thus, the total quantity of seeds that were eaten in the week is 5.25 grams.