Thinking Chocolate Puzzle - Solution

The Puzzle:

Thinking Chocolate

There were 100 chocolates in a box. The box was passed down along a row of people.

The first person took one chocolate. Each person down the row took more chocolates than the person before, until the box was empty.

What is the largest number of people that could have been in the row?

Our Solution:

The longest line of people you can have is thirteen, with the last person taking all the remaining chocolates. There are not enough chocolates for a fourteenth person, because they would have to take 14 chocolates (after the previous person had taken 13) and there would be only 9 left.

Puzzle Author: Stephen Froggatt

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