A very amusing paradox:

[Shrek3]

A wealthy man owned a stable of 'seventeen' horses. When he died he bequeathed the horses to his three sons. The will stated that eldest son was to be given one half of the horses, the middle son was to be given one third of the horses, and the youngest son was to be given one ninth of the horses. The sons were distraught. It was clear to all that the horses could not divided in this way without making a bloody mess.

Question: How can they divide the horses as per old man's will? Give it a thought before looking at the answer!. You will be just amazed with the solution.

[BobL]

Er . . . . I was not in the slightest amused

[snowyskiesau]

Nor is it a paradox.

[STAR]

OK. I think i have stumbled upon the answer.

There are 17 horses to be divided

A gets 1/2
B gets 1/3
C gets 1/9

So they borrow one horse from a neighbour and add it to the 17. Now they have 18 horses to divide up.

A gets 1/2 = 9
B gets 1/3 = 6
C gets 1/9 = 2

So we add the total 9 plus 6 plus 2 equals 17.

The borrowed horse is returned to their neighbour and they all lived happily ever after.

[mic-d]

what was in the video link, it seems to have been pullled?

Cheers
Michael

[RETIRED]

Still there.

[mic-d]

Ah, I see, yes it is I thought it was the you tube video in the window below which said the video had been removed. I thought it might have been a nackery or something where the 17 horses were being... well I won't go there.

Cheers
Michael

[RETIRED]

Psst. Took me a while to find it too.

[joe greiner]

The embedded link was hidden in plain sight. YMMV

A slightly different answer:

The old man had 18 horses when he wrote the will. He didn't check his arithmetic, nor did his lawyer.
(1/2 + 1/3 + 1/9 = 17/18).

As luck would have it, one horse died, and the man never revised the will.

Cheers,
Joe

[Resination]

So, in the end, none of them got their share. Once the 18th horse was returned, that changes the final figures. For instance, the first son no longer has 1/2 of the horses.

[Shrek3]

So, in the end, none of them got their share. Once the 18th horse was returned, that changes the final figures. For instance, the first son no longer has 1/2 of the horses.

I think that's the paradox!

[weisyboy]

ill son fix this problem



















now wheres my chainsaw

[echnidna]

horse-burgers to go.............