I got this story from a friend of mine who owns a couple of businesses. It is a great example of an innovative solution to a (seemingly) difficult problem. Just by looking at the problem differently, an obvious solution presented itself. Here is the story.
A farmer died leaving his 17 horses to his 3 sons. When his sons opened up the will it read:
My eldest son should get 1/2 (half) of total horses;’ ‘My middle son should be given 1/3rd (one-third) of the total horses;’ ‘My youngest son should be given 1/9th (one-ninth) of the total horses.
As it was impossible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the three sons started to fight with each other. So, they decided to go to a farmer friend who they considered quite smart, to see if he could work it out for them.
The farmer friend read the will patiently, and, after giving due thought, brought one of his own horses over and added it to the 17. That increased the total to 18 horses. Now, he divided the horses according to their father’s will.
- Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 horses.
- 1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 horses.
- 1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 horses.
Now add up how many horses they have:
- Eldest son 9
- Middle son 6
- Youngest son 2
This totaled 17 horses and left one horse unclaimed. So their farmer friend took his horse back to his farm.
