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.

• let n be the total number of loaves
  a be the remaining loaves after thief left...
  b will b remaining after a left...
  .........but after e the total number of loaves will be zero
  so putting as the equation,
  a=n-0.5n-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
  hence ans:31
• 10 years agoHelpfull: Yes(10) No(2)
• 31 is the answer...
  
  let y be the total no. of loaves
  a be the remaining loaves after 1st thief
  b be the remaining loaves after 2nd 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
  y = 31 -> answer
• 10 years agoHelpfull: Yes(5) No(1)
• let no.of loves be L
  first thief steals L/2 remaining L/2
  secound one (L/2)/2=L/4 remaining =(L/2)-(L/4)=L/4
  third one (L/ 4)/2=L/8 remaining=(L/4)-(L/8)=L/8
  forth one (L/8)/2=L/16 remaining=(L/8)-(L/16)=L/16
  given after fifth thief stolen there is no loaves
  so L/16 must be 1 --->L/16=1 --->L=16
  but for fifth person due to 1 loaves is left ,the condition remaining/2 is not valid.At last he take the one loave which is left.so i think the ans is 16
  
• 10 years agoHelpfull: Yes(3) No(1)
• not understand....can anybody xplain me in detail
  
• 10 years agoHelpfull: Yes(2) No(1)
• let n be the total number of loaves
  a be the remaining loaves after thief left...
  b will b remaining after a left...
  .........but after e the total number of loaves will be zero
  so putting as the equation,
  a=n-0.5n-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
• 9 years agoHelpfull: Yes(1) No(0)