Question 21
The bar graph shows the numbers of pencils Grace, Amy and Dan had initially. The horizontal lines are equally spaced.
On day 1, Grace gives half her pencils to Amy. On day 2, Amy gives half her pencils to Dan. On day 3, Dan gives half his pencils to Grace. This cycle repeats on days 4–6. On day 7, Grace can no longer give a whole number of pencils as half her total, so the process stops. What is the smallest possible initial number of pencils Grace had?
Answer format: enter one whole number without units. The printed paper uses four answer-sheet digits with leading zeros when needed; ordinary numeric entry is used here.
On day 1, Grace gives half her pencils to Amy. On day 2, Amy gives half her pencils to Dan. On day 3, Dan gives half his pencils to Grace. This cycle repeats on days 4–6. On day 7, Grace can no longer give a whole number of pencils as half her total, so the process stops. What is the smallest possible initial number of pencils Grace had?
Answer format: enter one whole number without units. The printed paper uses four answer-sheet digits with leading zeros when needed; ordinary numeric entry is used here.