Puzzle of the Week

This week's puzzle is an old classic. Four sailors, shipwrecked on an island, collect a large pile of coconuts for food. Exhausted by their labors, they go to sleep, vowing to divide the coconuts fairly in the morning. One sailor, suspicious of the others, gets up and divides the coconuts into four equal piles, with one left over, which he gives to a monkey who's been hanging around. He stashes his pile in secret, and leaves the rest of the coconuts in one big pile. Each of the other three sailors goes through the same process, taking one fourth of the coconuts (with one left over, given to the monkey). In the morning, the pile is noticeably smaller, but all are guilty so no-one complains. They divide the coconuts among the four of them, and have one left over for the monkey. How many coconuts did they start with?

Send solutions to Michael Kantor by noon on Tuesday, February 1, 2000.

Solutions to last week's puzzle came from Brian Prugh, Loren Hemachandra, and David Blackston. The last passenger has a 50% chance of sitting in the seat marked on her ticket.