Tony has a terrible toothache and decides to buy some painkillers from the store. He picks up a bottle of 50 pills and takes them home. He takes 2 pills each day three times a day for the first 2 days, before cutting this amount in half for the next 3 days. On the sixth day, he takes a final 2 pills in the morning and ends up feeling better. How many pills are left in the bottle?
Thoughts? Step-by-step reasoning:
Tony starts with 50 pills and takes 2 pills each 3 times a day, meaning he takes 2 * 3 = 6 pills in total. Tony repeats this process for two days in total, meaning over those two days he takes 2 * 6 = 12 pills. Tony then cuts down his pill usage in half, meaning he's now taking 6 / 2 = 3 pills a day. Since he repeats this process for three days, that means he takes 3 * 3 = 9 pills for that period. Adding in the two pills Tony took on the final day, that means he took 12 + 9 + 2 = 23 pills. Since there were 50 pills in the bottle to begin with, this means Tony has 50 - 23 = 27 pills remaining.
Thus, the answer is 27.