Joel was given a large bag of kumquats and ate one fourth of them before stopping as he was feeling sick. the next day he ate one fourth of the remaining kumquats and the following day he ate one fourth of the remainder, before counting the kumquats he had left which totaled 27.

The answer is 1,728 kumquats.

I honestly did a guess and check. I guessed 100 and multiplied the number .25, 3 times. The amount did not equal 27. Then I guessed 2000, multiplied the number .25, 3 times. So on, so forth. I am sorry I couldn’t give you an equation. This is a difficult question, by the way.