Brain Test 5 Level 71

Overview

This is a fruit-counting puzzle spread across three notebook pages. Each page shows a 6-column grid filled with four types of fruit — apples, bananas, pears, and oranges — scattered across the cells. The prompt tells you how many hits (taps) you are allowed to make, and your goal is to remove surplus fruit so that every type ends up with the same count. The first page says "Make 2 hits to equalize the number of fruits." The grid currently holds 4 apples, 6 bananas, 4 pears, and 3 oranges. The overall approach is to count each fruit type, figure out which one has the surplus, and tap exactly that many extra fruits to remove them.

• Difficulty: Regular
• Estimated moves: 2

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Start by counting each fruit type across the grid. Count the apples row by row: there are 4 apples. Count the bananas: there are 6 bananas. Count the pears: there are 4 pears. Count the oranges: there are 3 oranges.
2. Compare the four counts. Apples = 4, bananas = 6, pears = 4, oranges = 3. The target equal count is 4, because apples and pears already have 4. Oranges are at 3, which is one short, but you can only remove fruit — you cannot add. The surplus is bananas at 6, which is 2 too many.
3. Tap any two bananas to remove them. After removing 2 bananas, the count drops from 6 to 4. Now all four types have exactly 4 fruits each: 4 apples, 4 bananas, 4 pears, and 4 oranges.
4. If you tap the wrong fruit type, a red X appears and the round resets. Use your allowed number of hits carefully — you only get 2 taps on this page.
5. On later pages, the number of allowed hits changes (sometimes 1, sometimes 3), and the grid layout is different. Repeat the same counting process for each round.
6. When all fruit counts are equal and you have used exactly the allowed number of hits, a green checkmark appears.

Strategy & Reasoning

The puzzle is a simple counting-and-balancing exercise. The key insight is that you can only remove fruit, not add it. Therefore, the equal target count must be the smallest count among the four types minus any deficit you are willing to leave. But since you can only remove, the target is determined by which fruit has the surplus.
In the opening grid, bananas have 6 while everything else is at 3 or 4. Removing 2 bananas brings it to 4, which matches apples and pears. Oranges at 3 are one short, but there is no way to add fruit, so the puzzle is designed so that removing bananas makes the other three types match at 4. The optimal strategy is to count first, identify the surplus, and remove exactly the right number of that surplus fruit.

Tips & Common Mistakes

• Do not tap randomly; count first and identify which fruit type has the surplus. Tapping the wrong type wastes your limited hits.
• Do not forget you can only remove fruit, not add it; the equal count is determined by what you can remove down to.
• Do not use more hits than allowed; the prompt tells you exactly how many taps you have, and using fewer or more both fail.