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Topic: Two people went fishing (Read 563 times) |
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Lewis Temple
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Two people went fishing one day, they fished hard all day and had a good day because they both caught some fish. When they returned to shore and started cleaning the fish they discovered that if person A gave person B one of his fish they would have the same number of fish, but if person B gave person A one of his fish A would have twice as many as B.
How many fish did they catch.
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Two people went fishing
« Reply #1 on: Dec 9th, 2004, 8:36pm » |
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Let person A have x fish.
Let person B have y fish.
Then
x - 1 = y + 1
x + 1 = 2(y - 1)
Giving x = 7, y = 5
More generally (I remember working this out when I was at college),
Person A: If you give me a of your fish, I will have b times as many as you.
Person B: If you give me c of your fish, I will have d times as many as you.
This has the solution
x = c + [(a + c)(b + 1) / (bd - 1)]
y = a + [(a + c)(d + 1) / (bd - 1)]
provided
bd - 1 divides (a + c)(b + 1)
AND
bd - 1 divides (a + c)(d + 1)
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| « Last Edit: Dec 10th, 2004, 8:42am by ThudnBlunder » |
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Lewis Temple
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Re: Two people went fishing
« Reply #2 on: Dec 9th, 2004, 8:58pm » |
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yea, but could you hide it so others might enjoy?
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Two people went fishing
« Reply #3 on: Dec 9th, 2004, 9:05pm » |
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on Dec 9th, 2004, 8:58pm, Lewis Temple wrote:yea, but could you hide it so others might enjoy?
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Done.
Yes, I'm sure they'll rack their brains over this one!
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Lewis Temple
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Re: Two people went fishing
« Reply #4 on: Dec 9th, 2004, 11:06pm » |
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Thank you, and i am sure some will enjy racking their brains over it, not all of us are as intellectual as you are.
Thank you again!
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Two people went fishing
« Reply #5 on: Dec 10th, 2004, 7:49pm » |
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on Dec 9th, 2004, 11:06pm, Lewis Temple wrote:| not all of us are as intellectual as you are. |
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Well, I don't know whether to be pleased, disappointed, embarrassed, or offended. 
But I think you will agree that the puzzle is almost as easy as it is old.
(I believe it dates back to Euclid, about 300 BC.)
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| « Last Edit: Dec 11th, 2004, 7:08pm by ThudnBlunder » |
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Lewis Temple
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Re: Two people went fishing
« Reply #6 on: Dec 10th, 2004, 8:12pm » |
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I in no way meant that remark to be derogatory, I have the utmost respect for you and your train of thought. I am fascinated at how people come to conclusions to answers, for example you did the math equations and figured it out very methodically where as I did it with some little metal parts and another person. ;^)
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Two people went fishing
« Reply #7 on: Dec 11th, 2004, 7:16pm » |
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Quote:| where as I did it with some little metal parts and another person. ;^) |
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An excellent idea. 
I assumed that you had invited a friend to go fishing.
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| « Last Edit: Dec 13th, 2004, 4:51am by ThudnBlunder » |
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