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Wed 1 Dec, 2004 10:00 am
Witch Mary spent most of her adult life making quilts for the State Fair competition every year before she passed away. She left the 17 quilts that had won awards, to her three sisters. In her will, she stated that her youngest sister should get 1/9th of all the quilts, the oldest should get ½ the number of quilts, and the middle sister would get 1/3rd of the quilts. For days the sisters couldn't find a way to divide the quilts without cutting or unraveling some of them. They then went to the sage and wise Forest Witch for her advice. After the sisters explained the problem, the forest witch went away for a short time saying, "I'll be right back!" She went away, and when she came back, the three sisters could divide the quilts according to the will, and in such a way that each of them got a whole number of quilts.
The Question: What was Forest Witch's solution?
Hmmmmmmmmm...I'll muse on this one.
Call Forest Witch 'F', Young sister 'Y', Old sister 'O', and Middle sister 'M'.
If F makes a new quilt (or possibly has one previously made by Witch Mary) then there is a Total of 18 Quilts.
Y = 1/9 of 18 = 2 Quilts
O = 1/2 of 18 = 9 Quilts
M = 1/3 of 18 = 6 Quilts
Y, O and M have a combined total of 17 Quilts and F retains the new quilt.
This complies with Witch Mary's request. :wink:
does any one think this might be the answer?
1/9 of 17=1.8888888888888888888888888888889
1/3 0f 17=5.6666666666666666666666666666667
1/2 of 17=8.5
If the witch rounds out the percentages to the nearest whole #
The youngest gets 2 quilts
The middle one gets 6 quilts
The oldwst gets 9 quilts
No and yes.
No - Bibliophile has the right 'standard' answer to the riddle.
Yes - They're effectively the same since both solutions distribute the unaccounted for 17/18 of a quilt (the witch only willed 17/18 of her collection) among the sisters without destroying any quilts.
Happy to assist you, ncpatsy. Slainte!
This is very similar to another question I was asked when I was 14 (long time ago now!!)
Three men go to buy a TV. The find a shop with a TV advertised in the window at £30. Each pays in £10 and they approach the owner.
When the owner scans the item through the till, it scans at £25. The men are stuck, they can't split £25 between them! The say that he has a solution, but it will cost them £2. The men agree and the owner gives them all back £1 each. Leaving the owner his £2 out of the £5 change.
As they turned to leave, one man turned back and enuired where the other £1 went. The owner looked horrified. They did the maths between them:
3 men pay £9 each = £27
Owner has £2 = total of £29
But the men came in with £30!!!
Where did the other £1 go???
I think even at 14 I got this one in about 30 seconds! So don't shout if you find it too easy!! :wink:
That old chestnut.
They're always the best.
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