Question

Starting with number 0 on my calculator, I do a calculation in five steps. At each step, I either add 1 or multiply by 2. What is the smallest number that cannot be the final result?

Answer 1

Answer:

assuming only positive integers, the answer is 1

Step-by-step explanation:

the smallest number that you can get by adding is:

• start with 0
• then add 1 = 1
• add another 1 = 2
• add another 1 = 3
• add another 1 = 4
• add another 1 = 5

but you can also multiply, and anything multiplied by 0 is 0:

• start with 0
• multiply by 2 = 0
• multiply by 2 = 0
• multiply by 2 = 0
• multiply by 2 = 0
• multiply by 2 = 0

The question does not say that we need to do any specific calculation, it only gives us 2 options and we can choose them as many times as we want.