Rameses wishes to build a great pyramid for his interment.

The structure will have a square base and be solidly composed of cubical stone blocks. Each level of the pyramid contains one block fewer per side as the pyramid rises.

Rameses has available an initial work force of 35,000 slaves. Each morning the available labor pool is divided into work crews of 17 slaves each. Any remainder that cannot form a full crew gets the day off but are available the following day. Each crew can lay one block of the pyramid each day.

Unfortunately, the heat of the desert sun causes the death of one member of each crew each day. Work ceases on the project when it can be determined that there will be insufficient slaves available to raise the pyramid one more level. Each stone block measures 3 meters per side.

How many days will it take to construct Rameses' pyramid? How tall will it be? How many of the original slaves survive the construction?

Correction:

According to my reworked numbers, which assume that we use some system of planning, the answers to your questions are as follows:

Days to Complete: 53

Height: 141m

Slaves Remaining: 1416

Excess Blocks Available to Lay on Last Day: 73

Excess Answers: 2

I assume for these answers that you have all the information given in the question. These answers will remain constant whether you plan ahead and build each layer the appropriate size before adding any next layer blocks, or you simply start with one block and add layers around it.