How to figure out how many water molecules needed for hydrolysis?

Before I help, i just wanna say i like ur question buddy. You're not simply too lazy to use google, you're not asking yahoo to do your homework for you, you simply need an explanation. good on you!!

ok: basically i would imagine the number of molecules you will need for complete hydrolysis is equal to the number of monomers in the polysaccharide chain, minus 1. strange question tho, i know. You would also need to consider the number of chains there are and whether they are of the same length. Ugh, this is weird!! Perhaps you know the mass of the polysaccharide sample and can figure out the number of moles of monomers in there?

remember: the anabolic reaction, the one that forms polysaccs out of monosaccs, is considered dehydration cuz 1 H2O molecule is eliminated per link between 2 monosaccs formed

hydrolysis is a catabolic reaction because it is the breakdown of a long chain molecule into monomers. To do that to a polysaccharide you have to put water back in!! To separate the monomers completely, you will need one water molecule per bond between them

hope this helps