1) Cells duplicate their chromosomes before dividing instead of after because the daughter cells would each lose one-half of the genetic information.
The duplication of chromosomes automatically leads to the duplication of the genetic information on the chromosomes and each daughter cell receives a copy each of the genetic information.
If the information are not duplicated before dividing, it means that each daughter cell will receive half information.
2) If a cell that starts with 16 chromosomes lost half of its genes during each cell division, it will take 4 divisions for the gene to remain 1.
