<|im_start|>system
You are a helpful assistant. You first think about the reasoning process in the mind and then provide the user with the answer. You should try to truely solve the question by yourself without cheating.  <|im_end|>
<|im_start|>user
 5 friends a, b, c, d, and e decided to share a lot of apples. Each of them had half of the total plus half an apple in order. After each of them took their share and the process was repeated, no apples were left. How many apples were there? Show your work in <think> </think> tags. And return the final answer in <answer> </answer> tags.<|im_end|>
<|im_start|>assistant
Let me solve this step by step.
<think>
user
15
5 friends a, b, c, d, and e decided to share a lot of apples. Each of them had half of the total plus half an apple in order. After each of them took their share and the process was repeated, no apples were left. How many apples were there?
test