Intially there are b boxes, after that 8 more boxes are bought. So total number of boxes are,
[tex]b+8[/tex]Half of total boxes are destroyed which means destroyd boxes are,
[tex]\frac{b+8}{2}[/tex]The remaining number of boxes is equal to 20. So equation is,
[tex]\begin{gathered} b+8-\frac{b+8}{2}=20 \\ \frac{b+8}{2}=20 \end{gathered}[/tex]Simplify the equation for b.
[tex]\begin{gathered} b+8=20\cdot2 \\ b=40-8 \\ =32 \end{gathered}[/tex]Equation or inequality: (b+8)/2 = 20
Mark began with 32 boxes.