Question

Ali Baba gave his four sons, 39 camels to be divided among them so that the oldest son got one-half of the camels, the second son a quarter, the third an eighth, and the youngest a tenth. The four brothers were at a loss as to how they should divide the inheritance without killing camels?

Answer 1

1st son (oldest): 21

2nd: 11

3rd: 5

4th (youngest): 2

Explanation:

1st son gets half: 39/2 = 19.5 round up to 20

2nd son gets 1/4: 39/4 = 9.75 round up to 10

3rd son gets 1/8: 30/8 = 3.75 round up to 4

Number of camels left now: 39 - 20 - 10 - 4 = 5

The youngest son is only supposed to get 1/10 (39/10 = 0.39) which rounds up to 1 camel, but there are 5 camels available. So the fair thing to do (?) is give the youngest 2 camels and give each of the older sons one extra camel.

Final tally:

1st: 21

2nd: 11

3rd: 5

4th: 2