There stand nine temples in a row in a holy place.

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There stand nine temples in a row in a holy place.
All the nine temples have 100 steps climb.
A fellow devotee comes to visit the temples.
He drops a Re. 1 coin while climbing each of the 100 steps up.
Then he offers half of the money he has in his pocket to the god.
After that, he again drops Re. 1 coin while climbing down each of the 100 steps of the temple.

If he repeats the same process at each temple,
he is left with no money after climbing down the ninth temple.
Can you find out the total money he had with him initially?

Click here for Answer

146900

Explanation:
Whenever you face such type of questions, it is wise to begin from the last thing. Here in this question the last thing will be the 9th temple. He climbed down 100 steps and thus you know, he had Rs. 100 before beginning climbing down. Thus, he must have offered Rs. 100 to the god in that temple too (he offered half of the total amount). Also, he must have dropped Rs. 100 while climbing the steps of the ninth temple. This means that he had Rs. 300 before he begand climbing the steps of the ninth temple.

Now, we will calculate in the similar manner for each of the temples backwards.
Before the devotee climbed the eight temple: (300+100)*2 + 100 = 900
Before the devotee climbed the seventh temple: (900+100)*2 + 100 = 2100
Before the devotee climbed the Sixth temple: (2100+100)*2 + 100 = 4300
Before the devotee climbed the fifth temple: (4300+100)*2 + 100 = 8900
Before the devotee climbed the fourth temple: (8900+100)*2 + 100 = 18100
Before the devotee climbed the third temple: (18100+100)*2 + 100 = 36,500
Before the devotee climbed the second temple: (36500+100)*2 + 100 = 73300
Before the devotee climbed the first temple: (73300+100)*2 + 100 = 146900

Therefore, the devotee had Rs. 146900 with him initially.