Do you know the answer to this logic puzzle?
A man dies and leaves camels to his three sons. According to his will:
- The eldest son should receive half of the camels
- The middle son should receive one-third of the camels
- The youngest son should receive one-ninth of the camels
The sons are puzzled because 17 camels cannot be divided evenly according to these proportions.
Then, a wise man comes along with his camel and offers to help. What does he suggest?
Think you know the answer?
To see the answer to the question, click to expand the accordion below.
The wise man provides his camel to the sons, so now they have 17 + 1 = 18 camels.
- The eldest son then takes half of the 18 camels = 9
- The middle son then takes one-third of the 18 camels = 6
- The youngest son takes one-ninth of the 18 camels = 2
That means the sons get the 17 camels (9 + 6 + 2) and the wise man then takes his camel back.
If you’re wondering why this works, it’s because the original proportions of 1/2, 1/3, and 1/9 add up to a little less than 1. To show that, let’s give them all a common denominator of 18.
- 1/2 = 9/18
- 1/3 = 6/18
- 1/9 = 2/18
The sum of those fractions is 17/18 and there are 17 camels that the father is going to give to his sons, but 17 cannot be divided evenly by the proportions assigned to the sons.
When the wise man adds his camel, he temporarily makes the total 18, which is divisible by the sons’ fractions, allowing them to take the 17 and then allowing the wise man to take his camel back.
Did you get the answer without using a hint?
Need a hint?
If you need a hint, click to expand the accordion below.
Try to give the the sons’ proportions a common denominator. After you have that, what can the wise man do to help the sons?
