Albert noticed a flock of geese flying together in a V formation in the sky overhead.  One half of the geese broke off from the formation, flew toward the earth, and landed in some trees.  Then, 4 geese flew up, out of the trees, and joined those already flying in the air to make a new V formation in the sky.  If the final number of geese flying in the V formation was 12, how many geese were in the first formation Albert noticed in the sky?
If the final number of geese was 12, which included the 4 that joined from the trees, then before these 4 joined, there were 12-4=<<12-4=8>>8 geese in the sky.
Since these 8 geese represent the half of geese remaining, then the initial formation contained 8*2=<<8*2=16>>16 geese.
#### 16