crazy cow

@jmusser (177)
United States
November 9, 2006 9:30am CST
An old farmer died and left 17 cows to his three sons. In his will, the farmer stated that his oldest son should get 1 / 2 , his middle son should get 1 / 3 , and his youngest son should get 1 / 9 of all the cows. The sons, who did not want to end up with half cows, sat for days trying to figure out how many cows each of them should get. One day, their neighbour came by to see how they were doing after their father's death. The three sons told him their problem. After thinking for a while, the neighbour said: "I'll be right back!" He went away, and when he came back, the three sons could divide the cows according to their father's will, and in such a way that each of them got a whole number of cows. The Question : What was the neighbor's solution ?
1 response
@deadsoul1 (714)
• India
9 Nov 06
well neighbor came with one extra cow. so total cows are now=18 first son's share=18x1/2 = 9cows 2nd son's share==18x1/3 =6 cows 3rd son's share =18x1/9 == 2 cows. so all sums up to 9+6+2=17 cows and neighbour still gets his cow.
@jmusser (177)
• United States
9 Nov 06
Right!!! I'll have to find one that may stump you