Dudeney, Amusements in Mathematics Problem 7 A gentleman who recently died left the sum of Â£8,000 to be divided among his widow, five sons, and four daughters. He directed that every son should receive three times as much as a daughter, and that every daughter should have twice as much as their mother. What was the widow's share?
Let w be the widow's share. Then each daughter gets 2w and each son 6w. Hence w + 8w + 30w = 8000, so w = 8000/39. Converting, we get Â£205, 2s 6d and 10/13d. Dudeney 1-25 (C) John Scholes jscholes@kalva.demon.co.uk 25 Oct 2002