four monkeys, ann, bob, carl, don set off to gather bananas. after collecting their bananas, they felt tired and fell asleep. ann woke up first and ate 1/3 of the bananas. bob woke up next and ate 1/3 of the remaining bananas. then carl woke up and ate 1/3 of the remaining bananas. lastly, don woke up and took 1/4 of the remaining bananas. he left behind 12 bananas for his 3 other friends. How many bananas did the monkeys gather in all.. please answer.

X Bananas

Ann ate X/3
Re = X - X/3 = 2X/3.

Bob ate 1/3 * 2X/3 = 2X/9
Re = 2X/3 - 2X/9 = 4X/9.

Carl ate 1/3 * 4X/9 = 4X/27
Re = 4X/9 - 4X/27 = 8X/27

Don ate 1/4 * 8X/27 = 8X/108 = 2X/27
Re = 8X/27 - 2X/27 = 6X/27 = 2X/9.

2X/9 = 12
2X = 108
X = 54 Bananas.

Let's break down the steps to find the total number of bananas:

1. Ann ate 1/3 of the bananas, leaving 2/3 behind.
2. Bob ate 1/3 of the remaining bananas, leaving 2/3 * 2/3 = 4/9 of the original amount.
3. Carl ate 1/3 of the remaining bananas, leaving 2/3 * 4/9 = 8/27 of the original amount.
4. Don took 1/4 of the remaining bananas, leaving 3/4 * 8/27 = 24/108 = 4/18 = 2/9 of the original amount.
5. The remaining bananas are equal to 12, which is 2/9 of the original amount.
6. To find the original amount, we need to invert the fraction: 9/2 * 12 = 54/2 = 27.

So the monkeys gathered a total of 27 bananas.

To find the total number of bananas the monkeys gathered, we need to work through the problem step by step.

1. Let's start with the information given: there were initially a total of 12 bananas left for the three friends (Ann, Bob, and Carl) after Don took his share.

2. Since Don took 1/4 of the remaining bananas, we can calculate that there were 4 times the number of bananas Don took, which is 12 * 4 = 48 bananas before Don took his share.

3. Before Carl took his share, there were 3 times the number of bananas that Carl took. So, Carl took 12 * 3 = 36 bananas.

4. Similarly, before Bob took his share, there were 3 times the number of bananas that Bob took. So, Bob took 36 * 3 = 108 bananas.

5. And before Ann took her share, there were 3 times the number of bananas that Ann took. So, Ann took 108 * 3 = 324 bananas.

6. Finally, to find the total number of bananas the monkeys gathered, we add up all the bananas gathered by each monkey: 48 + 36 + 108 + 324 = 516 bananas.

Therefore, the monkeys gathered a total of 516 bananas.