1. On a certain day, there were several nuts in the bag. The next day, as many nuts were added to the bag as there already were, but eight nuts were taken away. On the third day, again as many nuts were added as there already were, but eight were taken away. The same thing happened on the fourth day, and after that, there were no nuts left in the bag. How many nuts were there in the bag at the beginning?
Answer: 7 nuts.

Solution. At the beginning of the fourth day, there were $(0+8): 2=4$ nuts in the bag. Therefore, at the beginning of the third day, there were $(4+8): 2=6$, and at the very beginning $-(6+8): 2=7$.