THE WIDOW'S LEGACY.
“7.—THE WIDOW'S LEGACY.
A gentleman who recently died left the sum of £8,000 to be divided among his widow, five sons, and four daughters. He directed that every son should receive three times as much as a daughter, and that every daughter should have twice as much as their mother. What was the widow's share?”
Excerpt From
Amusements in Mathematics
Henry Ernest Dudeney
https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=361522107This material may be protected by copyright.
Easy.
M = mother (wife) share
Daughter share = 2 x M
Son = 3 x 2 x M
8000= M + 4 x 2 M+ 5 x 3 x 2M = 39 M
M = 8000/39 or about 200
John_F wrote:
“7.—THE WIDOW'S LEGACY.
A gentleman who recently died left the sum of £8,000 to be divided among his widow, five sons, and four daughters. He directed that every son should receive three times as much as a daughter, and that every daughter should have twice as much as their mother. What was the widow's share?”
Excerpt From
Amusements in Mathematics
Henry Ernest Dudeney
https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=361522107This material may be protected by copyright.
“7.—THE WIDOW'S LEGACY. br br A gentleman who rec... (
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Link says not available in the US?
Without doing the math, I'd say, "Not much." : )
I remember these from school. I don't enjoy them any more now than I did then.
PixelStan77 wrote:
Link says not available in the US?
That makes sense because the poster is from some place called Minneapolis, wherever that is.
8000=w+5(6w)+4(2w)
w=205.13
big-guy
Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada
5 sons X 3 shares = 15 shares
4 daughters X 2 shares = 8 shares
1 Wife X 1 share = 1 share
Total shares = 24
£8000 / 24 = £333.33
each son gets £333.33 X 3 = £999.99 X 5 sons = £4999.95
each daughter gets £333.33 X 2 = £666.66 X 4 daughters = £2666.64
wife gets £333.33
Total £8000 - (£4999.95 + £2666.64 + £333.33) = £7999.92 (£0.08 goes to bank fees)
chase4
Loc: Punta Corona, California
I think widow gets 333 1/3.......
chase
Odd, opened in Apple books for me. I have that book in my collection for a long time. Will post other tidbits, if there are no objections.
PixelStan77 wrote:
Link says not available in the US?
The widow gets 1 share.
Each of 4 daughters gets 2 shares.
Each of 5 sons gets 6 shares.
That's a total of 39 shares (1x1 + 4x2 + 5x6 = 39).
8000 divided by 39 = 205.1282 (let's round it to 205.12)
Widow gets 205.12 (1x205.12 = 205.12)
Each daughter gets 410.24 (2x205.12 each... 4x410.24 = 1640.96)
Each son gets 1230.76 (3x410.24 each... 5x1230.76 = 6153.80)
We rounded down the shares, so the above totals 7999.88. That leaves .12 for them to fight over or donate to a local charity.
The whole thing sounds rather sexist, though. If I were the widow, I'd disown most of the kids! Especially the sons!
big-guy
Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada
IDguy wrote:
Sons get six shares.
I am humbled, yet again, by my error. Although I see that my mistake was starting with the sons instead of the wife. Mea Culpa.
Hal81
Loc: Bucks County, Pa.
Reminds me of my tax bill. They ask how much did I make last year? I tell then, They replied "Send it in".
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