[Question]: Brandon sold 86 geckos last year. He sold twice that many the year before. How many geckos has Brandon sold in the last two years?
[Answer]: Last year: 86 geckos. 2 years ago: 86(2) = 172. Total number of geckos sold 86 + 172 = 258 geckos.
So the answer is 258.

[Question]: Earl started delivering newspapers on the first floor of a condominium building. He then went up 5 floors then went down 2 floors. He again went up 7 floors and found that he is 9 floors away from the top of the building. How many floors does the building have?
[Answer]: Earl was on the 1 + 5 = 6th floor after going up 5 floors. When he went down 2 floors, he was on the 6 - 2 = 4th floor. Since he went up 7 floors, he was then on the 4 + 7 = 11th floor. Since he is 9 floors away from the top of the building, therefore the building has 11 + 9 = 20 floors.
So the answer is 20.

[Question]: Seth bought some boxes of oranges. He gave a box to his mother. He then gave away half of the remaining boxes. If Seth has 4 boxes of oranges left, how many boxes did he buy in the first place?
[Answer]:

Show your work and conclude with the exact phrasing "Therefore, the final answer is [answer]." where [answer] is just the final number or expression that solves the problem.
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After giving a box to his mom, Seth had 4 * 2 = 8 boxes left. Seth bought 8 + 1 = 9 boxes of oranges.
So the answer is 9.