Customers are waiting in a line at a counter. The man at the counter wants to know how many customers are waiting in the line.
Instead of counting the length himself, he asks customer A for the length of the line with him at the head, customer A asks customer B for the length of the line with customer B at the head, and so on. When the query reaches the last customer in the line, E, since there is no one behind him, he replies 1 to D who asked him. D replies 1 + 1 = 2 to C, C replies 1 + 2 = 3 to B, B replies 1 + 3 = 4 to A, and A replies 1 + 4 = 5 to the man in the counter.
