There are N men in a queue. A cannibal eats either all odd-numbered or all even-numbered men in the queue at a time. In the first round he eats all the odd-numbered. In the next round he eats all even-numbered. This goes on repeating (with odd or even toggling after every round) till there is only 1 man in the queue. What would be the original number of this man in the queue? e.g. If N = 6,
Men remaining after round 1: 2, 4, 6
Men remaining after round 2: 2, 6
Men remaining after round 3: 6
Hence answer = 6
1935 Solvers
339 Solvers
116 Solvers
Flag largest magnitude swings as they occur
524 Solvers
30 Solvers
Solution 1684038
OK. I'll bite. Where did this formula come from?
Just from calculating a number of values and figuring out the pattern.
That's quite the pattern to figure out...