A man dies and bequeaths 17 camels to his 3 sons. To the first-born son, he gives 1/2. To the middle son, he gives 1/3. To the youngest, he gives 1/9. The sons are confused because it seems they may have to slaughter one of the camels in order to fulfill their father's wishes. However, a wise man arrives at the scene riding upon his own camel and solves the problem for the three sons. No camels needed to be slaughtered, and the father's wishes were fulfilled. The wise man bid farewell as he rode away on his camel. How did the wise man resolve this dilemma?
2006-06-26 05:59:01 · 14 answers · asked by Finnegan 7 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Jokes & Riddles
He added his own camel to initially make 18.
Then 1/2=9, 1/3=6 and 1/9=2.
Add them up and you get 17. Then the wise man took his own camel away.
I hope thats the answer-it seems to work with everyone left happy
2006-06-26 06:08:44 · answer #1 · answered by Y 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's just simple math. If you add up the three fractions they don't add up to a whole. 1/2 plus 1/3 plus 1/9 must be added with a common denominator, so let's use 18. 1/2 is 9/18, 1/3 is 6/18, and 1/9 is 2/18. 9 plus 6 plus 2 is only 17/18. That's not complete!
So anyway, the old man will put his old camel into the offer. Nobody will take that camel because it is old. Anyways, now that it's out of eighteen it all works out, and since the fractions don't actually add up to eighteen fully, there is still the old man's camel left over, which he takes home.
Okay I sound like a nerd now. Basically in short, the fractions don't create a whole and so by adding the old man's camel it works out and then the old camel doesn't NEED to be claimed due to the fractions so he takes it away.
Hmm, that still sounds pretty nerdy. I guess I can't shorten it much. Okay, the magic camel fairy comes and does her math stuff and everybody lives happily ever after!
2006-06-26 06:15:27 · answer #2 · answered by MrMonkIsMyIdol 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Add one camel an then calculate:
The eldest gets 1/2 of 18 = 9
The second one gets 1/3 of 18 = 6
and the youngest gets 1/9 of 18 = 2
Take your camel back and then:
the total number of camels (9 + 6 + 2) = 17
2006-06-26 06:19:16 · answer #3 · answered by tweak 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1/2 + 1/3 +1/9 is only 94.4444444% of the camels
2006-06-26 06:11:03 · answer #4 · answered by butcherfamily513 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The wise man added his own camel to the 17, making 18. Then he gave one half of 18 (nine) to the eldest brother, one third of 18(six) to the next brother and one ninth of 18 (two) to the youngest, leaving him his original camel, which he rode off on.
2006-06-26 06:19:10 · answer #5 · answered by cdf-rom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the wise man realized one of the camels was pregnant...so that came to a total of 18 giving them each 6?
2006-06-26 06:10:14 · answer #6 · answered by jackie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the wise man is riding a camel and he also had an extra, so he gave it to them
2006-06-26 06:07:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
da wise man let dem borow hiz kamle Nd let dem divide ; 1/2 of 18 iz 9; 1/3 of 18 iz 6; 1/9 0f 18 is 2. So...9+6+2=17 . Ha ha!
after dat da man took bak hiz kamle
..............if u notice all da fractions dont ad up to hole.
2006-06-26 06:23:10 · answer #8 · answered by vy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They share the odd camel?
2006-06-26 06:20:12 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the wise man took one of their camels?
2006-06-26 06:04:23 · answer #10 · answered by Miss Terious 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋