SureMath - the math software for 21st century problem solving - was used to solve this problem.

The Mary's Apples problem provides the basic approach to solving this problem or any other problem. In this case there are embedded subproblems involving nested use of the Mary's Apples structure. That all problems solve in this manner follows from fundamental properties of problems and mathemtics.

A problem consists of a request for some result or results that satisfy some set of conditions that must be simultaneously satisfied. The well known methods of solving simultaneous equations is then appropriate. The elimination by substitution method of solving simultaneous equations, as done in this and other examples, then provides a reliable method of solving problems.