THE CLEVER BOY’S NUTS

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20498, 14 May 1938, Page 19 (Supplement)

THE CLEVER BOY’S NUTS

ANOTHER PUZZLE FOR YOU XT ERE is the clever boy again with another puzzle. Somehow lie has got hold of a big bag of nuts, which he intends to distribute among his three friends. His oldest friend is to have one nut plus a fourth of the remainder, his second oldest friend will then get one nuts plus a fourth of the. rest, while the youngest is also to have his share reckoned out in the same way. The clever boy

himself is very modest and will only have one nut plus a fourth of the rest last of all. I hope you understand this! Well, the' result proved to be that the oldest and youngest friends got exactly 100 nuts more together than the second oldest and the clever boy himself. Can you calculate how many nuts each boy got and how many were left in the big bag after this distribution?

Solution.—The total number of nuts In the bag was 1021. The oldest one got 256, the' second oldest 192, the youngest 144, and the clever boy himself got 108 at the distribution. Consequently, there were 321 nuts left in the' bag, which means to say that the humble giver kept 429 nuts all to himself! If you have been able to do this sum within ten minutes, I must congratulate you on your cleverness!