Edmund's Brainteasers
Problem 7
Problem 7: Andrew's bumper crop of apples
Andrew decides to pick apples from his trees and give away bags of them
to members of the congregation. He discovers that if he puts 8 apples
in each bag, there are 7 left over for the last bag. If, however, he
tries putting 7 in bag, there are 6 left for the last bag. What is more
surprising is that he finds this pattern keeps on repeating; 6 in a bag
means 5 left for the last bag, 5 in a bag leaves 4, 4 in a bag leaves
3, 3 in a bag leave 2, while 2 apples per bag still leaves 1
over for the last bag. What is the smallest number of apples that
Andrew could have picked?