Lee's summer job was to sell newspapers. he sold 24 in the morning. in the afternoon, he sold 2/7 of the remaining newspapers. the number of newspapers left was 1/2 of the number he started with at the beginning. how many newspapers did lee start with?
you! i can't have any equations in the answer! this is for fifth grade

Sorry, but I can only see the algebra way

in the morning, he sold 24 plus 2/7 of what he had left
what he had left was all-24

2/7 of left was sold
5/7of the ones left=1/2 of all
2/7 of left+24=1/2 of all
therefor
5/7 of the ones left=2/7 of the ones left+24
minus 2/7 of left fro mboth sides
3/7 of the ones left=24
divide both sides by 3
1/7 of the ones left=8
times 7 both sides
ones left=56

left+24=1/2 of all
56+24=1/2 of all
80=1/2 of all
times 2
160=all

he had 160 to start with