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Riddles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gypsy horse trader A rich Gypsy Horse Trader dies and leaves 17 beautiful white horses to be divided amongst his three sons. The only condition was that the division be carried out as follows: Eldest (sensible) son to have two-thirds of the horses. Second son to have one-sixth of the horses . Third son (unworthy son) to have only one-ninth. The sons tried all sorts of calculations, but there was no way it would work out. They were almost at the point of fighting, or selling the horses and dividing the money, when the eldest said "Let's ask Uncle John, he knows a thing or two." What did Uncle John suggest? Solution: If you are a mathematical sort, you probably won’t like this answer, because if you used the 17 horses and simply rounded up or down, you would get an entirely different answer. :) Uncle John offered the boys the loan of his beautiful black horse, and told them to try the division again. Starting with 18 horses, two-thirds =12 (white horses), which the eldest took. One-sixth = 3 white horses, which the second son took. One-ninth = 2 white horses, which the Third son took. Total number of horses distributed, 12 + 3 + 2 = 17 white horses. Uncle John then re-claimed his black horse - proving that he did indeed 'know a thing or two'. (Of course, in this scenario, the eldest got the better end of the deal and the youngest lost out. Rounding would have given 11.333 or 11 horses to the eldest, 2.8333 or 3 to the middle son and 1.8888 or 2 horses to the youngest son.) |
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