My friend Andrew was throwing a very grand party and wanted to borrow from me 100 wine glasses. I wanted to send them through my neighbour’s servant Harry.

Just to give an incentive to Harry to deliver the glasses intact I offered him 30 paise for every glass delivered safely and threatened to forefeit 90 paise for every glass he broke. On settlement, Harry received 24 Rupees from me.

How many glasses did Harry break ?

( Given: 1 Rupee = 100 Paise )

Harry did not break any glasses. He delivered 80 glasses to Andrew and, noticing there was no disincentive in my offer for theft, kept 20 glasses for himself.

I did not want to pay him the 24 Rupees for the 80 glasses he delivered safely, but a gentleman always keeps his word. I never did like that Harry!

Posted by Bryan on 2003-03-05 10:02:35