Puzzle 1 as written has an error. "with the remaining one-eighteenth of a camel left for the vultures" should be "with the remaining 17/18th of a camel left for the vultures"
Thanks for catching this! I fixed the error.
Seventeen Camels and Where They Can Take You
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Re: Seventeen Camels and Where They Can Take You
#12I only looked at the first "puzzle" and then came back here in some kind of frustration. The "solution" includes apportioning 9 camels to the first son, but 9 isn't 1/2 of 17. Maybe I'm pedantic, but if the solution is allowed to approximate or change the aportionment, then that should be specified in the puzzle statement! I felt tricked. Anyone else?
I added a sentence: “(Warning: This is sort of a trick question, so don’t expect a textbook-style answer!)” I hope that this will prevent others from being similarly frustrated.
What confuses them is the point of the puzzle, to learn that problems can be solved by expanding your perspective and challenging your assumptions. Instead they attack it for being outside their perspective and assumptions.
So I dislike the clue; it undermines the puzzle IMHO. You'll never please everyone!
Re: Seventeen Camels and Where They Can Take You
#13I only looked at the first "puzzle" and then came back here in some kind of frustration. The "solution" includes apportioning 9 camels to the first son, but 9 isn't 1/2 of 17. Maybe I'm pedantic, but if the solution is allowed to approximate or change the aportionment, then that should be specified in the puzzle statement! I felt tricked. Anyone else?
If someone says they'll pay $8.50 but then they round up and give you $9, you wouldn't say they didn't give you the $8.50 due, right? It's in the $9.
I think implicitly with the inheritance is the assumption that the father is promising at least 1/2, 1/3, and 1/9 of the flock to the respective sons, not the exact fraction. There's a solution where each son gets what's promised, and then a little more.
Re: Seventeen Camels and Where They Can Take You
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
I added a sentence: “(Warning: This is sort of a trick question, so don’t expect a textbook-style answer!)” I hope that this will prevent others from being similarly frustrated.
What confuses them is the point of the puzzle, to learn that problems can be solved by expanding your perspective and challenging your assumptions. Instead they attack it for being outside their perspective and assumptions. So I dislike the clue; it undermines the puzzle IMHO. You'll never please everyone!
No, it's that I don't believe the given solution solves the problem as stated. I think if it had said "at least 1/2", "at least 1/3", etc, then it would be fine. Like, if I asked you "how do you paint a 10 square foot wall white with only an ounce of white paint?" and then revealed the answer as "add a bunch of blue paint! The wall is painted white now (also blue, but still also white). Haha!"
Re: Seventeen Camels and Where They Can Take You
#15I only looked at the first "puzzle" and then came back here in some kind of frustration. The "solution" includes apportioning 9 camels to the first son, but 9 isn't 1/2 of 17. Maybe I'm pedantic, but if the solution is allowed to approximate or change the aportionment, then that should be specified in the puzzle statement! I felt tricked. Anyone else?
That's why it's a puzzle and not a textbook word problem. Though maybe word problems should be puzzles more often so that students don't just plug the numbers into a formula and report the result without thinking whether it would be a good solution in the real world. Note that the integer solution leaves no son cheated out of their inheritance. Everyone gets their apportionment, and a little more.
That's like saying, if I have 9 apples, and I give you 3, how many apples do I have? 4! Get it? I have 4 apples, and I have 2 more, but that still means I have 4 apples! I still argue that, since 9 > 8.5, this is a trick question rather than a puzzle. If the puzzle said "how do we apportion the camels so that the three sons are satisfied" that would be different.