CAT 1999QA Question 20

2 Variable EquationsEasy
Passage / Data

Answer the next 3 questions based on the following information.

A young girl Roopa leaves home with x flowers, goes to the bank of a nearby river. On the bank of the river, there are four places of worship, standing in a row. She dips all the x flowers into the river. The number of flowers doubles. Then she enters the first place of worship, offers y flowers to the deity. She dips the remaining flowers into the river, and again the number of flowers doubles. She goes to the second place of worship, offers y flowers to the deity. She dips the remaining flowers into the river, and again the number of flowers doubles. She goes to the third place of worship, offers y flowers to the deity. She dips the remaining flowers into the river, and again the number of flowers doubles. She goes to the fourth place of worship, offers y flowers to the deity. Now she is left with no flowers in hand.

The minimum number of flowers that could be offered to each deity is

Answer & solution

  • A

    0

  • B

    15

  • 16

  • D

    Cannot be determined

Solution

​​​​​​​

Starting from the fourth place of worship and moving backwards, we find that number of flowers before
entering the first place of worship is 158y.

The minimum value of y so that 1516y is a whole number is 16.

Therefore, 16 is the minimum number of flowers that can be offered.

Hence, option (c).

CAT 1999 QA Q20: The minimum number of flowers that could be offered to each deity is — Solution | TheCATExam