Story 1 A generous little monkey had some peaches.
On the first day he gave half his peaches away and ate one.
On the second day he gave away half of the rest and ate one.
On the third day he gave away half of the rest and ate one.
On the fourth day he found there was only one left.
How many did he have at the beginning?
Story 2 A generous little monkey who liked mathematics had 60 peaches.
On the first day he decided to keep \frac{3}{4} of his peaches.
He gave the rest away then he ate one.
On the second day he decided to keep \frac{7}{11} of his peaches.
He gave the rest away then he ate one.
On the third day he decided to keep \frac{5}{9} of his peaches.
He gave the rest away then he ate one.
On the fourth day he decided to keep \frac{2}{7} of his peaches.
He gave the rest away then he ate one.
On the fourth day he decided to keep \frac{2}{3} of his peaches.
He gave the rest away then he ate one.
How many did he have left at the end?
Click here to download the PEACHES worksheet.
Click here for a pdf of the NRICH poster giving an extension to this problem.
This problem is adapted from the NRICH task with the same name with permission of the University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.
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