The Curfew

            In most States in India the law for the sale of alcoholic beverages provides that beer cannot be sold after a certain hour. However in some States the law permits a customer to consume, after the deadline, what has been sold before the curfew.

          In a certain bar 2 men ordered sufficient beer to cover their probable requirements in anticipation of the curfew. One man ordered and paid for 5 bottles and the other man ordered and paid for 3 bottles. But as the curfew started, an old friend of both the men approached and requested them to share the eight bottles of between them. 

 

        The friend thanked the two men and put down Rs. 8 in payment for the beer he had consumed, asking them to share the money in proportion to the quantity of beer they have contributed to him.

         How should this money be equitably divided between the two men?  

Answer: The three men shared the beer equally and so each drank the contents of 2 ⅔ bottles. Therefore, the man who had bought 5 bottles contributed 2 ⅓ bottles and the man who had paid for 3 bottles contributed ⅓ of the bottle, to make up the third man’s share.

              The first man’s contribution is 7 times that of the second and, therefore, he gets Rs. 7 and the latter Re. 1.