Question

George the chimp found a large guava tree full of ripe fruit and decided to celebrate this find with his friends. He gave half of the total bunch and one extra to his closest pal. He then gives half of the remaining guavas and one extra to his 2nd closest pal and carries on in this manner. The tree is out of guavas after treating 5 pals.
How many guavas did the tree have when George initially found it​

Answer 1

Answer:

If there are x guavas at any time, then you are correct that George gives x2+1 guavas to his friend, which leaves x−(x2+1)=x2−1 guavas left

Step-by-step explanation:

You can check that 62 is the correct answer. After giving the guavas to his 1st closest friend, there are 622−1=30 guavas left. Repeating the process gives 14,6,2,0. Since he has 0 guavas after treating his 5th closest friend