A fair Division

            A rich farmer died leaving behind a hundred acres of his farm to be divided among his three daughters Rashmi, Mala and Rekha – in the proportion of one- third, one – fourth and one – fifth, respectively. But Rekha died unexpectedly. 

          Now how should the executor divide the land, between Rashmi and mala in a fair manner?

Answer:    As Rekha’s share falls in through her death , the farm has now to be divided only between Rashmi and Mala, in the proportion of one- third to one- fourth – that is in the proportion of four- twelfths to three. Therefore, Rashmi gets four- sevenths of the hundred acres and Mala three- sevenths.

A Problem of Socks

       Mammu wears socks of two different colours –white and brown. She keeps them all in the same drawer in a state of complete disorder.

      She has altogether 20 white socks and 20 brown socks in the drawer. Supposing she has to take out the socks in the dark, how many must she take out to be sure that she has a matching pair?

Answer:    Mammu should take out 3 socks from the drawer because if she takes out only 2 then, both could be of different colours however the third selection would result in a pair of white or brown socks.

Right Foot Forward

          A short man three steps to a tall man’s two steps. They both start out on the left foot. How many steps do they have to take before they are both stepping out on the right foot together?

Answer: They will never step out with right foot together.

A matter of Denominator

        A fraction has the denominator greater than its numerator by 6. But if you add 8 to the denominator, the value of the fraction would then become ¹⁄₃.

Can you find this fraction?

Answer:  The fraction is 7/13

On the Way to market

       One morning I was on my way to the market and met a man who had 4 wives. Each of the wives had 4 bags, containing 4 dogs and each dog had 4 puppies. 

       Taking all things into consideration, how many were going to the market?  

Answer:  Just myself! Only I was going to the market and I met all the others coming from the opposite direction.