Dudeney, Amusements in Mathematics Problem 20 "A neighbour of mine," said Aunt Jane, "bought a certain quantity of beef a two shillings a pound, and the same quantity of sausages at eighteenpence a pound. I pointed out to her that if she had divided the same money equally between beef and sausages she would have gained two pounds in the total weight. Can you tell me exactly how much she spent?"
Suppose she bought x pounds of beef. Then she spent a total of 24x + 18x = 42x. If she had spent 21x on each she would have got 21x/24 + 21x/18 = 49/24 x pounds. Hence 2x + 2 = 49/24 x, so x = 48. Hence she spent 42.48 d = 42.4 s = Â£8, 8s. Dudeney 1-25 (C) John Scholes jscholes@kalva.demon.co.uk 25 Oct 2002