Five sailors decide to spend a night on an island and see a pile of coconuts near their resting place ...

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Five sailors decide to spend a night on an island and see a pile of coconuts near their resting place. They decide to divide the coconuts equally among themselves the next morning. During the night, one of them wakes up and decides to take his share. He realizes that the division will not be even and hence, throws one coconut to a monkey to make the division even and takes his share and goes back to sleep. The other four sailors do likewise, one after the other, each throwing a coconut to the monkey and taking a fifth of the remaining pile of coconuts. In the morning, the five sailors realize that they have to throw a coconut to the monkey in order for them to divide the coconuts equally among them. What is the smallest number of coconuts that must have been in the original pile?

    • 8 years ago
    Let the original number of coconuts be x ...
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      Fivesailorsdecidetospendanightonanislandandseeapileofcoconutsneartheirrestingplace.doc