Name: Krystie
Who is asking: Student
Level: Secondary

Question:
A farm has 45 bananas, a man has to take a truck and transport 15 bananas to a market that is 15 miles away. Every mile he travels, he must eat a banana. I have to get at least one banana to the market

Hi Krystie,

Suppose that there are markers at each mile along the road. One technique is the following:

Step 1
Load up with 15 bananas, drive to the 5 mile marker, drop off 5 bananas and then return to the start. The truck has travelled 10 miles so 10 bananas have been eaten. Step 2
Load up 15 more bananas, drive to the 5 mile marker (having eaten 5 bananas) and pick up the 5 bananas you left there. Continue to the 10 mile marker. At this point you would have 10 bananas left and would need all of them to get back to the start. This doesn't work. Alternate step 2
Load up 15 more bananas, drive to the 5 mile marker (having eaten 5 bananas) and pick up the 5 bananas you left there. Continue to the 9 mile marker. How many bananas can you leave at the 9 mile marker and still get back to the start? Cheers,
Penny
Go to Math Central