The Basket of Egg (Solving Problem From The Back)
A basket contains a number of eggs. The first buyer bought of the contents of the basket with one free. Then the second buyer bought also one-half of the contents of the remaining and got one free. The same for the customer who bought of the contents with one free, until the fourth and last buyer who bought the half of the remaining with one free and nothing left. How many eggs were in the basket?
Details
This is not my original :D
The answer is 30.
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1 solution
Note that there are 2 left after the 3rd buyer- one was bought by the fourth buyer and one for free. The sequence in the buying with regard to the number egg left is indicated in the respective buyers as follow:
4th Buyer
1 ( b o u g h t ) + 1 ( f r e e ) = 2 left before the buying takes place
3rd Buyer
2 + 1 ( F r e e ) =3, then 3 ∗ 2 = 6 left before the buying.
2nd Buyer
6 + 1 = 7 . Then 7 ∗ 2 = 1 4
1st Buyer
1 4 + 1 = 1 5 . Then 1 5 ∗ 2 = 3 0 [original number of eggs]