How many fish did each boy catch?!
Question: Here is a curious little fishing puzzle that yields readily to experimental methods, although some mathematicians may find it difficult to grasp the situation. Five boys whom we will designate as A, B, C, D, E, went fishing one day. A and B together caught 14 fish. B and C caught 20. C and D caught 18. D and E 12, while A and E each caught the same number of fish.
The 5 boys then divided their spoils as follows. C pooled his catch with B and D; then each of them took exactly one third. Each of the other four boys now did exactly the same thing; that is, each pooled his catch with two side partner , and then the fish were divided into thirds, D pooled with C and E, E poooled with D and A, A pooled with E and B, and B pooled with A and C. The division into thirds came out even in all 5 cases so that no fish had to be sliced into fractions. At the end of this procedure, the fish were divided equally among the 5 boys.
Can you guess how many fish each boy caught?
Answers: Here is a curious little fishing puzzle that yields readily to experimental methods, although some mathematicians may find it difficult to grasp the situation. Five boys whom we will designate as A, B, C, D, E, went fishing one day. A and B together caught 14 fish. B and C caught 20. C and D caught 18. D and E 12, while A and E each caught the same number of fish.
The 5 boys then divided their spoils as follows. C pooled his catch with B and D; then each of them took exactly one third. Each of the other four boys now did exactly the same thing; that is, each pooled his catch with two side partner , and then the fish were divided into thirds, D pooled with C and E, E poooled with D and A, A pooled with E and B, and B pooled with A and C. The division into thirds came out even in all 5 cases so that no fish had to be sliced into fractions. At the end of this procedure, the fish were divided equally among the 5 boys.
Can you guess how many fish each boy caught?
A=12
B=2
C=18
D=0
E=12
Woah, I'm a smart girl, but when it comes to math....