What was the neighbor's solution?
An old farmer died and left 17 cows to his
three sons. In his will, the farmer stated that his oldest son should
get 1/2, his middle son should get 1/3, and his youngest son should get
1/9 of all the cows. The sons, who did not want to end up with half
cows, sat for days trying to figure out how many cows each of them
should get.
One day,
their neighbor came by to see how they were doing after their father's
death. The three sons told him their problem. After thinking for a
while, the neighbor said: "I'll be right back!" He went away, and when
he came back, the three sons could divide the cows according to their
father's will, and in such a way, that each of them got a whole number
of cows.
