It seems to me that the answer should be 7^{8 – 1 based on this, “He takes out his 1/7 share then divides the remaining coconuts into 7 piles, and reburies the pile.” This may be a typo and supposed to say 6 but as is, The last guy wouldn’t be able to make 7 even piles after he removed his share unless they started with 7}8 – 1.

sorry for the above typos it should read (7^8) + 1.

Too easy, just skimming through it I was able to get it right. As aoi said stanza 4

Read the wikipedia article it makes far more sense than the given solution, however, I’ll try to summarize. Our choice at the beginning is either a car, goat, or a goat each with a 1/3 probability. The only way that we will lose if we switch is if we pick the car from the start. Since there is a 67% chance we will pick a goat at the start when we switch after the first door reveals a goat we will have chosen a car