Jack is a farmer and owns a chicken farm. One day, he took a basket of fresh eggs to the market to sell.
The first person bought half of all the eggs in the basket and half an egg. Then, the second person bought half of the remaining eggs and half an egg. Later, the third person bought half of the remaining eggs and half an egg.
Now Jack’s basket has only 1 egg left. If no eggs were broken in the process, how many eggs did he originally have in his basket?
He had 15 eggs.
The first person bought half of the 15 eggs which is 7½ eggs and another ½ egg. So he bought 8 eggs in total and Jack is left with 7 eggs.
The second person bought half of the remaining 7 eggs which is 3½ eggs and another ½ egg. So he bought 4 eggs and Jack is left with 3 eggs.
The last person bought half of the remaining 3 eggs which is 1½ eggs and another ½ egg. So the last person bought 2 eggs. That leaves 1 egg remaining in Jack’s basket.