There was a shipwreck at sea and Doug, Steve, and Phil got washed ashore on a small, isolated island. They were exhausted and fell asleep on the beach. Doug woke up and saw a box of bananas had washed ashore. He ate 1/3 of bananas and went back to sleep. Steve woke up and also ate 1/3 of what was left of the bananas, and went back to sleep. Next, Phil woke up and assuming no one had eaten the bananas, ate only 1/3 of what was left. When he was finished, there were only 8 bananas left. Can you guess how many bananas were in the box?

When Philn finished, the remaining 8 bananas represented 2/3 of the amount that had existed when he started (so each 1/3 = 4). Therefore there were 12 bananas (4 + 4 + 4)when he started, and when Steve

Following the same logic, the remaining 12 bananas represented 2/3 of the amount that had existed when Steve started (and each 1/3 = 6). Therefore there were 18 bananas (6 + 6 + 6) when he started, and when Doug finished.

Again, following the same logic, the remaining 18 bananas represented 2/3 of the amount that had existed when Doug started (and each 1/3 = 9). So, there must have been 27 (9 + 9 + 9) bananas originally.