Three friends, returning from a movie, stopped to eat at a restaurant. After dinner, they paid their bill and noticed a bowl of mints at the front counter. Sita took $$\frac{1}{3}$$ of the mints, but returned four because she had a monetary pang of guilt. Fatima then took $$\frac{1}{4}$$ of what was left but returned three for similar reasons. Eswari then took half of the remainder but threw two back into the bowl. The bowl had only 17 mints left when the raid was over. How many mints were originally in the bowl?
a) 38
b) 31
c) 41
d) None of these

Answer: d
Explanation:
$$\eqalign{ & {\text{Number of mint before Eswari has taken}}, \cr & = \left( {x – {\frac{x}{2}} } \right) + 2 = 17 \cr & x = 30 \cr & {\text{Number of mint before Fatima has taken}}, \cr & = \left( {x – {\frac{x}{4}} } \right) + 3 = 30 \cr & x = 36 \cr & {\text{Number of mint before Sita has taken}}, \cr & = \left( {x – {\frac{x}{3}} } \right) + 4 = 36 \cr & x = 48 \cr & {\text{There}}\,{\text{were}}\,{\text{48}}\,{\text{mints}}\,{\text{originally}}{\text{.}} \cr} $$