A thief steals half the total no of loaves of bread plus 1/2 loaf from a bakery. A
second thief steals half the remaining no of loaves plus 1/2 loaf and so on. After the 5th
thief has stolen there are no more loaves left in the
bakery. What was the total no of loaves did the bakery have at the beginning

• 31 breads are there in the begining
• 9 years agoHelpfull: Yes(0) No(0)
• let x be the total no. of loaves
  a be the remaining loaves after 1st thief
  b be the remaining loaves after 2nd thief
  c be the remaining loaves after 3rd thief
  d be the remaining loaves after 4th thief
  e = 0 be the remaining loaves after 5th thief
  
  solution:
  a = y - 0.5y - 0.5
  = 0.5y - 0.5
  b = a - 0.5a - 0.5
  = 0.5a - 0.5
  c = 0.5b - 0.5
  d = 0.5c - 0.5
  e = 0.5d - 0.5 but e = 0,
  thus,
  d = 1
  c = 3
  b = 7
  a = 15
  x = a+b+c+d+e=31
• 9 years agoHelpfull: Yes(0) No(0)
• 
  //correction in previous solution
  a = x - 0.5x - 0.5
  = 0.5x - 0.5
  
• 9 years agoHelpfull: Yes(0) No(0)