Smith, Jones and Brown were great friends. After Brown's wife died, his niece kept house for him. Smith was also a widower, and lived with his daughter. When Jones got married, he and his wife suggested that they all live together. Each one of the party (male and female) was to contribute $25.00 on the first of the month for household expenses, and what remained at the end of the month was to be equally divided.

The first month's expenses were $92.00. When the remainder was distributed, each received an even number of dollars without fractions. How much money did each receive, and why?

There is nothing in the problem to indicate that the three men are cared for by three separate women. Two or even all three could be the same person. (eg. Jones could have married Smith's daughter or Brown's niece.)

So we have three possibilities:

Six people: $150 - $92 = $58; 58 is not evenly divisible by six.

Five people: $125 - $92 = $33; 33 is not evenly divisible by five.

Four people: $100 - $92 = $8; $8/4 = $2

So Mrs. Jones' parents were Mr. Smith, and Mr. Brown's sister, and she takes care of her father, her uncle, and her husband. (No wonder she insisted that they all move into one house! Keeping up three houses was getting to be too much.)

And they each got $2 back.

Posted by TomM on 2002-07-25 06:53:36