Mooo !

Moo!

http://tinyurl.com/6e2d3
http://www.nata2.info/humor/flash/cow.swf

The last courtesy of Mathurine (Math Urine? What a name). He was worried it might be NSFW but I think it's ok.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Moo!

http://tinyurl.com/6e2d3
http://www.nata2.info/humor/flash/cow.swf

The last courtesy of Mathurine (Math Urine? What a name). He was worried it might be NSFW but I think it's ok.

the neighbour let them borrow a cow...so there was 18...which left 1/2 (9 cows), 1/3 (6 cows), and 1/9 (2 cows) to each son...then the neighbour took back his cow...taaaadaaaaw

Originally posted by Briscoe
the neighbour let them borrow a cow...so there was 18...which left 1/2 (9 cows), 1/3 (6 cows), and 1/9 (2 cows) to each son...then the neighbour took back his cow...taaaadaaaaw

I thought the answer has been there all the time.
If you add 1/2, 1/3 and 1/9 together, you don't have 1/1, only 17/18. So what happended with the 17/18 of the last cow?

I thought I made that clear with my counter-problem with the dogs. 1/2 and 1/3 doesn't give 1/1 either, only 5/6. What happended with the last 1/6 of a dog?

The problem with this problem of yours is that it is not a problem, only the answer is. The testament loyers should be sued by fraud, getting a fee for consulting without doing it right.

But - I admit (of course) - it is a clever problem after all. But the problem is how this work. How can you split 18 cows into 17 pieces without killing any of them?

The neighbour borrowed an extra cow, to make the total number of cows 18. Then the oldest son got 1/2 of 18 is 9 cows, the middle son got 1/3 of 18 is 6 cows, and the youngest son got 1/9 of 18 is 2 cows. Since 9+6+2 = 17, the cows could be divided among the three brothers in such a way that the borrowed cow was left over, and could be returned to its owner.


No?

Originally posted by Mathurine
The neighbour borrowed an extra cow, to make the total number of cows 18. Then the oldest son got 1/2 of 18 is 9 cows, the middle son got 1/3 of 18 is 6 cows, and the youngest son got 1/9 of 18 is 2 cows. Since 9+6+2 = 17, the cows could be divided among the three brothers in such a way that the borrowed cow was left over, and could be returned to its owner.


No?

Originally posted by FabianFnas
Yes, but what happened with the last 18th? Why did he only testament 17 of the 18 18th? Who got the rest?

No testament loyer worth his fee would ever put a testament to testament only 94,4% of his belongings?

Do you see why this problem is not how to divide cows, but to realize that he didn't testament 100% of what he had?