Question

EJ sold half his comic books and then bought 9 more he now has 17 with how many did he begin

Answer 1

well he has 17 now, and he bought 9 so we can easily subtract
17 - 9 = 8 :)

Answer 2

Don't forget he sold half of his comic books as well.

Answer 3

17 = x/2 +9. x is the original number of comic books he had.

Answer 4

still don't get what my algebraic equation

Answer 5

That would be your equation then you just have to isolate x to find out how many books he began with.