well first you know that each friend had 2 brownies more than Kira and there are 33 brownies so count by 2 until you get to the closest number possible to 33 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24,26,28,30,32 and add 1 brownie for Kira so that equals 33 brownies now you add up all of the numbers you have counted and you get 16 so there are 16 friends