A man starts with five apples. He gives away two apples and then eats one. How many apples does he have left?
Answer: 2 apples.
Start with 5 apples. Giving away 2 leaves him with 3. He then eats 1 of those remaining apples, leaving 2.
Written as a simple calculation, it is 5 − 2 − 1 = 2.
The puzzle is easy once each action is followed in order, but the wording can make people rush and forget that the apple he eats also has to be removed from the total he still has.
So after both actions are completed, the man has exactly 2 apples left.
