17 camels and 3 sons
The puzzle of 17 camels and 3 sons is a well-known problem in mathematics and logic.
The problem goes as follows:
A man died and left his 17 camels to his three sons. The will stated that the oldest son should receive half of the camels, the middle son should receive one-third of the camels, and the youngest son should receive one-ninth of the camels.
The sons were unable to divide the camels as per the will, as 17 is an odd number and cannot be divided exactly into half, one-third, and one-ninth. They approached a wise man in their village for a solution.
The wise man listened to their problem and thought for a while. He then gave them a solution, and all the sons were happy with it. What was the wise man’s solution?
The wise man’s solution was to lend them one of his own camels, making a total of 18 camels. He then asked the oldest son to take his share of the camels, which is half of 18 camels, which is 9 camels. The middle son was asked to take his share, which is one-third of 18 camels, which is 6 camels. The youngest son was asked to take his share, which is one-ninth of 18 camels, which is 2 camels.
After the sons had taken their share, the wise man took back his own camel, leaving 9 + 6 + 2 = 17 camels, which is the total number of camels left by the man in his will.