Question

There are 200 pieces of gum. The first student gets one-half and each student gets half of what's left each time. How many pieces of gum would the 7th person get?

Answer 1

Answer: the 7th person will get 3.125 pieces of gum.

Step-by-step explanation:

The first student gets one-half and each student gets half of what's left each time. This means that number of pieces of gum that each student gets is reducing in geometric progression. The formula for determining the nth term of a geometric progression is expressed as

Tn = ar^(n - 1)

Where

a represents the first term of the sequence.

r represents the common ratio.

n represents the number of terms.

From the information given,

a = 200

r = 0.5

n = 7

The 7th term, T7 is

T7 = 200 × 0.5^(7 - 1)

T7 = 200 × 0.5^6

T7 = 3.125