Another 'explain this', but with camels
Another 'explain this', but with camels
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simpo two

Original Poster:

92,679 posts

294 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
An Arab chap is very pround of his herd of camels. He has three sons, and decrees in his will that when he dies, his camels should be distributed to his sons in proportions as follows:

Son 1 gets half the camels
Son 2 gets a third of the camels
Son 3 gets a ninth of the camels.

When the man dies, he has 17 camels. That's a rather a bugger, as 17 isn't divisible by anything. Arse. While the sons are wondering what to do, a wise man chances past on a camel. They call him over and explain the problem. 'Hmm...' says the wise man, 'I think I can help you.'

He adds his camel to the other 17, so there 18 camels in all. Half of 18 is 9; he gives 9 camels to Son 1. A ninth of 18 is 2; he gives 6 camels to Son 2. And a ninth of 18 is 2; so he gives 2 camels to Son 3.

Now... 9 + 6 + 2 = 17... so there's one camel spare The wise man gets on it and rides away...

>>> Edited by simpo two on Monday 28th March 21:50

Youth Gone Wild

4,028 posts

266 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
Doesn't work, a sixth of 18 is 3

simpo two

Original Poster:

92,679 posts

294 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
Youth Gone Wild said:
Doesn't work, a sixth of 18 is 3

You're not wrong mate, well spotted, have fixed it now...

Balmoral Green

42,561 posts

277 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
Anyone seen my pound?

simpo two

Original Poster:

92,679 posts

294 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
Balmoral Green said:
Anyone seen my pound?

I think that geezer on the camel nicked it!

parrot of doom

23,075 posts

263 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
A ninth of 18 is not 6. It is 2.

simpo two

Original Poster:

92,679 posts

294 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
parrot of doom said:
A ninth of 18 is not 6. It is 2.

Sorry. Fixed it. And I haven't even been drinking...

simpo two

Original Poster:

92,679 posts

294 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
Stupid mistakes apart - what's the answer?

Ballistic Banana

14,706 posts

296 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
simpo two said:
Stupid mistakes apart - what's the answer?


Dont trust strangers on Camels

Frik

13,677 posts

272 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
simpo two said:
What's the answer?
There's no question...

simpo two

Original Poster:

92,679 posts

294 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
Frik said:
There's no question...

Damn you lot are clever tonight...

'9 + 6 + 2 = 17... so there's one camel spare The wise man gets on it and rides away... '

The inferred question is 'How did he do that?

Pies

13,116 posts

285 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
Son 1 gets 9/18

son 2 gets 6/18

son 3 gets 2/18

bloke rides of on 1/18

All you have done is use an extra camel to fiddle the division as originally the equations are

half of 17 equals 8.5
third of 17 equals 5.666
ninth of 17 equals 1.888

which still leaves one spare camel


Frik

13,677 posts

272 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
simpo two said:
The inferred question is 'How did he do that?
It's a crap will - 1/18th is unassigned.

My guess is that in all the confusion, no-one spotted that the (slightly lame) camel the wise man arrived on was not the same one he was seen leaving with...

simpo two

Original Poster:

92,679 posts

294 months

Monday 28th March 2005
quotequote all
Pies and Frik win, well done chaps, you get half a lame camel each.

Bonus point to Frik for spotting the camel upgrade: you can have the half that doesn't fart : poot: