Why does it take three copies of 1/6 to show the same amount as one copy of 1/2?

Ben is three times as old as samantha, who is two years older than half of michel's age. if michel is 12. how old is ben?

Nick has box brads. he uses 4 brads for the first project. nick let’s b represent the original number of brads and finds that for the second project, the number of brads he uses is 8 more than half the difference of b and 4. write an expression to represent the number of brads he uses for the second project.

Could somebody me with this radical simplification?