Michelle sold half of her comic books and then bought eighteen more. She now has 56. With how many did begin?

76 comic books

Step-by-step explanation:

First we must structure a formula in order to solve for the number of comic books that Michelle initially had. The formula for this problem would be:

x · / frac{1}{2}x + 18 = 56

In order to solve for x, the initial number of comic books Michelle had, you would need to subtract 18 from 56. You would then have 38. So:

x · / frac{1}{2}x = 38

Next, you'd need to get rid of the / frac{1}{2}. In order to do that, you would divide / frac{1}{2} by 38. Now, we should be left with:

x · x = 76

Now, we don't really need both x's. We can already conclude that x is equal to 76, since the following is true:

76 comic books - / frac{1}{2} (76) sold + 18 bought = 56 comic books left.

Therefore, your answer is 76 comic books.