A farmerdied leaving his 17 horses to his three sons
When his sons opened up the Will it read:
My eldest son should get 1/2 (half) of total horses;
My middleson should be given 1/3rd (one-third) of the total horses;
Myyoungest son should be given 1/9th (one-ninth) of the total horses.
As it’s impossible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the three sons
startedto fight with each other.
So, theydecided to go to a farmer friend who they considered quite smart,
to see ifhe could work it out for them.
The farmer friend read the Will patiently, after giving due thought, he brought
one ofhis own horses over and added it to the 17. That increased the total to
18horses.
Now, he divided the horses according to their fathers Will.
Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 horses.
1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 horses.
1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 horses.
Now addup how many horses they have:
Eldestson……..9
Middleson…….6
Youngestson…2
TOTALIS…….17.
Now thisleaves one horse over, so the farmer friend takes his own horse back to hisfarm.
ProblemSolved!
