General Chat

This will appeal to very few, but give it a try with cards;coins; or whatever; and you will have a party piece for life. It's a puzzle which for various reasons I have made it into a poem of a kind.

CAMEL LOT

Abdul had 17 racing camels,
He was getting very old;
I'll leave them to my children,
They're worth their weight in gold.

To the eldest he left half his stock;
One third; a ninth; to the other two;
But part camels can no longer race,
And Arab curses flew.

Old Abdul was a wise man,
And 'borrowed' one as you do;
Eighteen camels nine is half,
Six; and two; for you.

Nine plus 6; add a pair,
That's 17 camels once again;
Hump the odd one to our 'lender',
All it needed was a brain.

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Thanks for reading. Please give it a try

Happy days

Very tough on the youngest who didn't get his fair share.

very tough on those that don't remember their maths lessons and how to work with fractions

very sneaky :-D

Actually I was wrong he did get more than his share, it was the total of the shares that was wrong , leaving about 6% of his total unallowed for.

This is another poser where the maths is incorrect. Abdul could only divide up the herd as he wished if it was a multiple of 9 AND 3 AND 2 so the original herd would have to be 18 or 36 or 54 etc.
So he isn't actually giving the camels away in the proportion he wished.

You took the words right out of my mouth Errol. Thank You.

GP

Ah yes, Errol, that may be right, but I have worked this 100's of times on people, and in real time they are always baffled. The intention of the posting was as a party piece.

Salute your thinking though.

Best wishes Happy days

Apologies Harry - I thought you were asking for an explanation.
Will delete my post if you wish.

If he had left 18 camels what would they have done with the one left over?

Why did the youngest only get a ninth share when a sixth would have been more logical?

No Errol, it's just a fun thread. Absolutely no problem. Try it next time you have a party.

If is a big word Kense. The originator of the original puzzle has been dead for at least fifty years so the question is rhetorical,I'm afraid.

Best wishes Happy days.