Melanie is a door-to-door saleswoman. She sold a third of her vacuum cleaners at the green house, 2 more to the red house, and half of what was left at the orange house. If Melanie has 5 vacuum cleaners left, how many did she start with?
First multiply the five remaining vacuum cleaners by two to find out how many Melanie had before she visited the orange house: 5 * 2 = <<5*2=10>>10
Then add two to figure out how many vacuum cleaners she had before visiting the red house: 10 + 2 = <<10+2=12>>12
Now we know that 2/3 * x = 12, where x is the number of vacuum cleaners Melanie started with. We can find x by dividing each side of the equation by 2/3, which produces x = 18
#### 18