A heap of beads was shared out between three people by a professional bead
sharer.
The first person got one third, but not before the bead sharer had taken one
bead as commission.
The second person had one third of what remained, but again, after commission
of one bead had been taken by the bead sharer.
The third person also received a one third portion of what remains but, as before,
after commission.
Once all three people had received beads the bead sharer took a final commission
of one bead and shared the remaining beads equally between the three people.
There were no beads left over and no beads were split into fractions. How many
beads could there have been at the start?
For example there could have been 3562 beads. Try it.
You should see 3562 becoming 2374, then 1582, then 1054, and finally three equal
shares of 351.
This link will take you to pages that suggest one way to solve the problem. Don't rush to see this!