Question

a piece of string is cut in half, so that one half can be used to bundle newspapers for recycling one third of the remaining string is cut off and used to tie a parcel the leftover string is 2m long how long was the whole piece of string

Answer 1

First 1/2 was cup off, then 1/3 of the remaining 1/2 was cut off. 1/3 of 1/2 is 1/6, and 1/2 in sixths as well is 3/6. That is 4/6 cut off in total.
There was 2 meters left, which was the remaining 2/6 left over.
2/6 is equal to 1/3, so to get the original length multiply 2 by 3 to get 6 meters.
Hope this helps!