November 2015








Festival shopping

Street

It is the festival season once again. I dread festival seasons; well, don't get me wrong - I love festivals but I don't like the expenditure associated with festivals. Left alone, I would enjoy the festivals without spending a dime. But, relatives don't leave you alone!

So, there was my ten-year-old nephew who came up to me and began pestering me to do some festival shopping. I couldn't refuse.

I checked my pockets and found there was enough cash. We set out and entered the first shop. We made some purchases and I discovered upon leaving the shop that I had spent 100 rupees more than half the cash I had started with. If that sounds confusing, let me explain: Suppose I had 250 rupees initially, then half of it is 125 and I spent 125 + 100 = 225 rupees in the first shop.

My nephew dragged me to a second shop; here, again, I spent 100 rupees more than half the amount which I had when I entered this shop.

That was not the end of it. My nephew dragged me to a third shop. Here, too, I spent 100 rupees more than half the amount I had when I entered this shop.

There was no respite for me. My nephew dragged me to a fourth shop and then to a fifth one. In each of these two shops, again, I spent 100 rupees more than half the amount I had when entering these shops.

My nephew, then, tugged at my arms and made a beeline for a sixth shop. I checked his progress, turned my pockets inside out and showed him that I had not a single rupee left. I had spent all the money I had!

There was no alternative but to head homewards. My nephew looked at the packages and wanted to know how much I had spent. I told him to figure it out himself. Will you help my nephew figure out how much cash I had started with and how much I spent in each shop with the information that I have provided?






Click here for the solution




Some useful links for
your career:


  • Union Public Service Commission - www.upsc.gov.in
  • IIT-Kharagpur - www.iitkgp.ac.in
  • Indian Statistical Institute - www.isical.ac.in
  • Indian Institute of Technology Madras - www.iitm.ac.in
  • Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad - www.iimahd.ernet.in
  • Indian Institute of Mass Commission - www.iimc.nic.in
  • IIT Bombay - www.iitb.ac.in
  • Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad - www.ismdhanbad.ac.in
  • Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi - www.bitmesra.ac.in
  • Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical and Engineering Training - www.cifnet.nic.in
  • Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (Deemed University) - www.iiita.ac.in
  • Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi - www.cmfri.com
  • Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai - www.tiss.edu

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