[AT] Farmer's Math

[David Rotigel]

Now I understand—it was the “extra” horse that really made things work out. Would that work with a tractor collection of 17 tractors as well, or does it only work with horses?
	Dave
PS, Wonder where the extra horse came from in the beginning.

> On Jun 20, 2016, at 1:30 PM, Stephen Offiler <soffiler at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The trick is in the fractions.  1/2 + 1/3 + 1/9 does not add up to 1.
> 
> Least common denominator is 18.  We have 9/18 + 6/18 + 2/18 = 17/18
> 
> That's where that extra horse seems to make things work out.  It pushes the
> total to the necessary 18/18.
> 
> SO
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 1:14 PM, David Rotigel <rotigel at me.com> wrote:
> 
>> A farmer died 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 middle son should be given 1/3rd (one-third) of the total horses;
>> 
>> My youngest 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 started to fight with each other.
>> 
>> So, they decided to go to a farmer friend who they considered quite smart,
>> 
>> To see if he could work it out for them.
>> 
>> The farmer friend read the Will patiently, and after giving due thought
>> 
>> He brought one of his own horses over and added it to the 17.
>> 
>> That increased the total to 18 horses.
>> 
>> Now, he divided the horses according to their father's will.
>> 
>> 1/2     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 add up how many horses they Have:
>> 
>> Eldest son  9
>> Middle son  6
>> Youngest son  2
>> 
>> TOTAL = 17
>> 
>> Now this leaves one horse over, so, the farmer friend takes his horse back
>> to his Farm.
>> 
>> Problem solved!
>> 
>> (Scratch your head over how that was  accomplished....and let me know )
>> 
>> 
>>