Mind-Bending Math Puzzle: How Many Chocolate Pieces Remain After a Series of Actions?

Math puzzles are a great way to challenge your mind and improve your problem-solving skills. They can be fun, frustrating, and incredibly satisfying to solve. One such puzzle that has been making the rounds on the internet involves a dish of chocolates and a series of actions. The puzzle goes like this: “There are 22 pieces of chocolate in a dish. You eat 1, give 2 away, lose 1 more and then divide the rest between yourself and your two friends. How many pieces of chocolate do you have left?” Let’s delve into this mind-bending math puzzle and see if we can find the answer.

Understanding the Puzzle

The first step in solving any math puzzle is to understand the problem. In this case, we start with 22 pieces of chocolate. We then perform a series of actions: eating 1 piece, giving away 2 pieces, losing 1 piece, and finally dividing the remaining pieces between ourselves and two friends.

Breaking Down the Actions

Let’s break down each action and see how it affects the total number of chocolates:

• Eating 1 piece: This reduces the total number of chocolates from 22 to 21.
• Giving away 2 pieces: This further reduces the total number of chocolates from 21 to 19.
• Losing 1 piece: This brings the total number of chocolates down to 18.

Dividing the Remaining Chocolates

The final action is to divide the remaining 18 pieces of chocolate between ourselves and two friends. Since there are three of us in total, we divide the chocolates by 3. This gives us 6 pieces of chocolate each.

Answering the Puzzle

So, after all these actions, how many pieces of chocolate do we have left? The answer is 6. We started with 22 pieces, ate 1, gave away 2, lost 1, and then divided the remaining 18 pieces between ourselves and two friends, leaving us with 6 pieces.

Conclusion

This puzzle is a fun and engaging way to practice your math skills. It requires you to carefully read and understand the problem, break it down into smaller parts, and then solve each part step by step. The key to solving this puzzle, and any math puzzle, is to stay patient, stay focused, and not get overwhelmed by the complexity of the problem. Remember, every complex problem can be broken down into simpler, more manageable parts. Happy puzzling!