In a market Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones sell apples. Mrs. Jones sells her apples for two per shilling. The apples of Mrs. Smith are a bit smaller; she sells hers for three per shilling.

At a certain moment, when both ladies both have the same number of apples left, Mrs. Smith is called away. She asks her neighbour to take care of her goods.

To make everything less complicated, Mrs. Jones simply puts all apples to one big pile, and starts selling them for two shilling per five apples. When Mrs. Smith returns the next day, all apples have been sold. But when they start dividing the money, there appears to be a shortage of seven shilling.

Supposing they divide the number equally, how much does Mrs. Jones lose with this deal?

I'm not sure that adds up!

If they'd sold 210 apples, then the TOTAL schillings (@ 2/5) would be 84, and then they'd split THAT number.

Smith would get 42, after expecting (105 @ 1/3) = 35 shillings
Jones receives   42, after expecting (105 @ 1/2) = 52.5 schillings.

(One shilling gets cut in half??)

Smith would get 7 less than expected, and Jones 10.5 more

(That doesn't sound like it satisfies the "there appears to be a
shortage of seven shilliing"!)

Posted by Johnny on 2004-10-09 19:00:26