I have this old math question. Great math people tr to come up with the smallest answer to this problem. They come up with 15,682. Another guy comes up with -4.
I come up with 126. Note that the divison has REMAINDERS so no decimals
So here it is:
5 sailors are shipwrecked on an island. There are lots of coconuts and a monkey. They decide to split their coconuts equally among each other and give the remainder to the monkey the next morning. They go to sleep.
First guy wakes up, and is hungry. He takes his share and goes back to sleep.
Second guy wakes up, does the same.
Then the third, foruth, fifth.
The next morning they dont mention to each other about taking coconuts. they split them again.
HOW MANY DID THEY START WITH?
The contest is to find the LOWEST answer. Good luck!
Math thing, lol
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Maybe I'm being too simplistic about this, but I'm getting 11. I guess sooner or later we'll all share our reasonings on this. 
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5. They simply took their share and went back to sleep. The next day, they ate them, and since there were none left over, they did not give any to poor monkeydude. Prolly 'cuz he was from SPACE.
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>_>
Let me simplify this: They are stupid, so they divide whats there. No one can tell why the pile seems so small then ext morning.
Let me simplify this: They are stupid, so they divide whats there. No one can tell why the pile seems so small then ext morning.
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How about 0? Maybe the coconuts were a mirage. They each took 0, and gave the monkey the remainder - 0. Man, those guys are insane.
But I'm not.
...what?
...I'M NOT INSANE! STOP STARING AT ME!
Wait, how about... 5 is the lowest I can figure out, unless they split coconuts.
But I'm not.
...what?
...I'M NOT INSANE! STOP STARING AT ME!
Wait, how about... 5 is the lowest I can figure out, unless they split coconuts.
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Its a REMAINDER. If it was 5 the second/third/fourth/fifth guy would not get a cocnut, and the monkey would get 4.
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The way I reached 11 was that, reasonably, they're not going to split up a whole coconut into parts, so they must have at least six in the beginning to each have one and be able to consider that there'd be a "remainder" left for the monkey. Then add five more, as if there'd been any less they wouldn't have been able to ignore the splitting problem the next day, yet there need not be more because giving the monkey a remainder wasn't necessary but was merely an initial consideration.
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Quote (Sharmandra)
That was me.
There you go. >>
Explain to me, how exactly can you have a negative amounts of coconuts?
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You cannot have an negative amounts of coconuts. >>
Come on, think about it. This math problem is a image of a real life situation, not an complex math equation like X^Y2 * 45Z*X. It's people on an island with some coconuts.
The amount of coconuts cannot be negative because that crashes with reality. It would have been possible if this was pure math, because while the amounts of coconuts can never be below zero, X, in math terms, can be anything.
Come on, think about it. This math problem is a image of a real life situation, not an complex math equation like X^Y2 * 45Z*X. It's people on an island with some coconuts.
The amount of coconuts cannot be negative because that crashes with reality. It would have been possible if this was pure math, because while the amounts of coconuts can never be below zero, X, in math terms, can be anything.
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The answer is that there is not enough information given to actually answer the problem...Especially since you say there has to be a remainder, which means it can really be any number as long as five goes into it at least twice. If you are just looking for the lowest possible number...Then 11 or 12 depending on how many times the monkey takes coconuts.