Henry had x oranges. he gave 12 to his sister and 6 fewer to his friend. He remained with twice as many as he gave away. How many oranges had he at first

Henry x

sister 12
friend 12 - 6 = 6

so gave away 12+6 = 18
so he was left with 2*18 = 36

so he had 36 + 18 = 54

x - 12 - 6 = 2(12+6)

take over

To find out how many oranges Henry had at first, we'll use algebraic reasoning.

Let's start by setting up an equation based on the given information:

Henry gave 12 oranges to his sister. So, he was left with x - 12 oranges.

He also gave 6 fewer oranges to his friend, which means he gave away x - 12 - 6 = x - 18 oranges.

According to the problem, Henry remained with twice as many oranges as he gave away. So, we can set up the equation:

x - 12 = 2(x - 18)

Now, let's solve the equation to find the value of x:

x - 12 = 2x - 36 [Applying the distributive property]

x - 2x = -36 + 12 [Subtract x from both sides]

-x = -24 [Simplifying]

x = 24 [Dividing both sides by -1]

Therefore, Henry had 24 oranges at first.