Question

(A) 2 students are sharing a loaf of bread. Student A eats half of the loaf, then student B eats half of what remains, then student A eats half of what remains, and so on. How much of the loaf will each student eat?

(B) 2 students are sharing a loaf of bread. Student A eats 2/3 of the loaf, then student B eats half of what remains, then student A eats 2/3 of what remains, then student B eats half of what remains, and so on. How much of the loaf will each student eat?

(3) 3 students decide to share a loaf of bread. Student A eats half of the loaf, passes what remains to student B who eats half, and then onto student C who eats half, and then back to student A who eats half, and so on. How much of the loaf will each student eat?

Answer 1

make 2 columns, marked A and B
A eats 1/2 leaving 1/2 -- B eats 1/4 leaving 1/4
A eats 1/8 th leaving 1/8th -- B eats 1/16 th, leaving 1/16 th

So A eats 1/2 + 1/8 + 1/32 + ...
a Geometric series with a=1/2, r = 1/4
S∞ = a/(1-r) = (1/2)/(1 - 1/4)
= (1/2)/(3/4) = 2/3

So A eats 2/3 of the loaf

The clearly B must eat the missing parts or 1/3.

Do the others the same way.

Answer 2

All I need to know is how do you do part two (2)? Is there a summation formula that we can use?

Answer 3

(4/9)^(n-.5)

Answer 4

Two students are sharing 1/2 of a bread. How much will each student get in fraction?