Question

Three tired and hungry men went to sleep with a bag of apples. One man woke up, ate 1/4 of the apples, then went back to sleep. Later a second man woke up and ate 2/3 of the remaining apples, then went back to sleep. Finally, the third man woke up and ate 3/4 of the remaining apples. When he was finished there were 9 apples left. How many apples were in the bag originally? Please show working. Thanks

Answer 1

man1 ate 1/4, leaving 3/4
man2 ate 2/3 of 3/4 = 1/2, leaving 1/4
man3 ate 3/4 of 1/4 = 3/16, leaving 1/16
1/16 of total is 9, so the total is 144

check:
man1 ate 36, leaving 108
man2 ate 72, leaving 36
man3 ate 27, leaving 9

Answer 2

thank you mr.steve