During a recent expedition, three intrepid adventurers were left stranded in the middle of the desert with only a crate full of apples.
During the night, Alex woke up and decided to hide some of the apples and hid a third, then promptly fell asleep again.
Billie woke up shortly after and also decided to hide a third of the remaining apples and then also dozed back to sleep.
Finally, Charlie woke up and seeing the others were asleep, took a third of what was left.
Of course, none of the adventurers knew of the other's antics, so, in the morning, they shared the remaining apples, each receiving sixteen. How many apples were in the crate originally?
Hint
How many students study chemistry and physics, but not biology?
Answer
500 students.
Reasoning
The answer is more easily seen if three intersecting circles are drawn, and the numbers inside each section are worked out.
We know that 73 students study all three disciplines, which allows us to work out the numbers.
97 students study chemistry and physics, so 97 − 73 = 24 study just chemistry and physics.
138 students study physics and biology, so 138 − 73 = 65 study just physics and biology.
152 students study chemistry and biology, so 152 − 73 = 79 study just chemistry and biology.
280 students study chemistry, so 280 − 73 − 24 − 79 = 104 study just chemistry.
254 students study physics, so 254 − 73 − 24 − 65 = 92 study just physics.
280 students study biology, 280 − 73 − 65 − 79 = 63 study just biology.
For a total of: 104 + 92 + 63 + 24 + 65 + 79 + 73 = 500 students.
