(This "nonsense puzzle" gets its name from the puzzle I saw it from)

A shopper went into a shop and wanted a dollar's worth of chestnuts when he gave the shopkeeper a one dollar bill and was given five chestnuts. "It is not enough; I ought to have a sixth," the shopper remarked. "But you will have five too many if I gave you one chestnut more", the shopkeeper replied.

How many chestnuts should the man have gotten for 3 twenty dollar bills?

I agree that the customer expected 1/6 plus 5 chestnuts.
Thus the cost is $1 per 5 1/6 chestnuts, or $(6/31) each.
So $60 gets you 310 chestnuts, which should be enough even for the village smithy.

Posted by Larry on 2004-03-04 00:15:15