Question

A thief steals a number of rare plants from a nursery. On the way out, the thief meets three security guards, one after

another. To each security guard, the thief is forced to give one-half the plants that he still has, plus 2 more. Finally, the
thief leaves the nursery with 0 plants. How many plants were originally stolen?

Answer 1

• 28 plant were stolen

------------------------------------

Calculate it from end to start.

Before guard 3 he had:

• (0 + 2)*2 = 4 plants

Before guard 2 he had:

• (4 + 2)*2 = 12 plants

Before guard 1 he had:

• (12 + 2)*2 = 28 plants

This is the number of plants stolen.