Re: [HM] 17 Mules (resp.Horses).
Roger CUCULIERE (cuculier@sophocle.imaginet.fr)
Mon, 20 Jul 1998 11:03:53 +0200
A 11:09 18/07/98 -0400, vous avez ecrit:
>The following, with variations, has been oft repeated. Does anyone know
>the original version, author, date?
>
>A Missouri farmer passed away and left his 17 mules to his three sons.
>
>The instructions left in the will said that the oldest boy was to get
>1/2, the second eldest 1/3, and the youngest 1/9. The three sons,
>recognizing the difficulty of dividing 17 mules with these fractions,
>began to argue.
>
>Their uncle heard about the argument, hitched up his mule and drove out
>to settle the matter. He added his mule to the 17, making 18. The eldest
>son got 1/2, or nine; the second got 1/3, or six; and the youngest got
>1/9, or two. Adding up 9, 6, and 2 is 17. The uncle, having settled the
>argument, hitched up his mule and drove home.
>
>
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ANSWER
I can't give the original version, but one can read this problem in "Riddles
in Mathematics", by Eugene P. Northrop, Penguin Book, 1961, p. 19. This book
was first published in 1944.
The author writes: "One of the oldest paradoxes is that of the wealthy Arab
who at death left his stable of seventeen beautiful horses to his three sons."
And so on.
In the French magazine "Le Petit Archimède", Nr 45-46, 1978, this problem is
generalized.
RC