Q. A charitable woman gave one penny more than half pennies in her purse to a farmer .Afterwards she came across a beggar whom she gave 2 pennies more than half of what she had in her purse. In the end she gave 3 pennies more than half of what she had in her purse and left with a penny with her to a boy. Find what she had in the beginning?

• let there b 'x'pennies
  
  now to the farmer:
  she gave 1 penny more than the half in the purse i.e (x/2 +1)
  
  now she is left with:: (x-(x/2+1))=(x-2)/2
  
  now to the beggar::
  she gave 2 pennies more than the half in the purse i.e(x-2)/4 +2
  
  and she is left with :: ((x-2)/2)-((x-2)/4 +2)= (x-10)/4
  
  
  now at last
  
  sh gave 3 pennies more then the half she was left with i.e ((x-10)/8+ 3)=A
  
  
  so she is left with
  (x-10)/4-A=(x-34)/8
  
  now acc. to quest
  (x-34)/8=1
  
  hence x=42
• 11 years agoHelpfull: Yes(12) No(0)
• At the end she had 1
  lets before last donation she had n pennies so n-(n/2)-3 = 1 =>n=8
  ........before second donation she had m ... m-(m/2)-2 = 8 => m=20
  ..........before first donation she had p... p-(p/2)-1 = 20=> p=42
• 10 years agoHelpfull: Yes(5) No(0)