A man is the owner of a winery who recently passed away. In his will, he left 21 barrels (seven of which are filled with wine, seven of which are half full, and seven of which are empty) to his three sons. However, the wine and barrels must be split so that each son has the same number of full barrels, the same number of half-full barrels, and the same number of empty barrels.( Note that there are no measuring devices handy).

How can the barrels and wine be evenly divided?

Pour two half-filled barrels into two other half-filled barrels. This makes
7+2=9 full barrels.
7-4=3 half-full barrels
2+2=9 empty barrels.

Now each son gets 3 full barrels, 1 half-full barrel and 3 empty barrels.

Posted by Lewis on 2003-08-07 13:38:09