10 Arithmetic & Algebraic Problems
- A QUEER SETILING UP
Professor Rackbrane told his family at the breakfast table that he had
heard the following conversation in a railway carriage the night before.
One passenger said to another, "Here is my purse: give me just as much
money, Richard, as you find in it."
Richard counted the money, added an equal value from his own pocket,
and replied, "Now, John, if you give me as much as I have left of my own we
shall be square."
John did so, and then stated that his own purse contained $3.50, while
Richard said that he now had $3.00. How much did each man possess
at first?
- APPLE TRANSACTIONS
A man was asked what price per 100 he paid for some apples, and his re-
ply was as follows: "If they had been 4¢ more per 100 I should have got five
less for $1.20." Can you say what was the price per lOO?
- PROSPEROUS BUSINESS
A man started business with a capital of $2,000.00, and increased his
wealth by 50 per cent every three years. How much did he possess at the ex-
piration of eighteen years?
31. THE BANKER AND THE COUNTERFEIT BILL
A banker in a country town was walking down the street when he saw a
five-dollar bill on the curb. He picked it up, noted the number, and went to
his home for luncheon. His wife said that the butcher had sent in his bill for
five dollars, and, as the only money he had was the bill he had found,
he gave it to her, and she paid the butcher. The butcher paid it to a farmer
in buying a calf, the farmer paid it to a merchant who in turn paid it
to a laundry woman, and she, remembering that she owed the bank five dol-
lars, went there and paid the debt.
The banker recognized the bill as the one he had found, and by that time it
had paid twenty-five dollars worth of debts. On careful examination he dis-