9) Aliyah had some candy to give to her four children. She first took ten pieces for herself and then evenly divided the rest among her children. Each child received two pieces. With how many pieces did she start?

Aliyah started with 30 pieces of candy. Here's how you can figure it out: After taking 10 pieces for herself, she had the remaining candy divided among her four children, who each got 2 pieces. That means the children received a total of 8 pieces (4 children x 2 pieces each). So, if she had 10 pieces and distributed 8, she must have started with 10 + 8 = 18. But don’t forget to add the total amount back for the initial calculation. Therefore, it’s 10 (for herself) + 8 (for the children) = 18 pieces.