 The search space is much smaller if one starts with the number of coconuts received by each man in the morning division, because that number is much smaller than the number in the original pile.If "F" is the number of coconuts each sailor receives in the final division in the morning, the pile in the morning is 5"F", which must also be divisible by 4, since the last sailor in the night combined 4 piles for the morning division.So the morning pile, call the number "n", is a multiple of 20.