Farmer Math

A farmer died leaving his 17 horses to his three sons. When they opened the will, it read:

My eldest son should get 1/2 (half) of the total horses;

My middle son should get 1/3rd (one-third) of the total horses;

My youngest son should get 1/9th (one-ninth) of the total horses.

As it’s impossible to divide 17 into half or 17 by 3 or 17 by 9, the three sons started to fight with each other.

Then they decided to go to a farmer friend who they considered to be quite smart, to see if he could work it out for them. The farmer friend read the will patiently, and, after giving it due thought, he brought one of his own horses over and added it to the 17. That increased the total to 18 horses.

Now, he divided the horses according to their fathers will.

Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 horses.

1/3rd of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 horses.

1/9th of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 horses.

Now add up how many horses they have:

Eldest son...9

Middle son...6

Youngest…2

That totals to 17.

Now this leaves one horse over, so the farmer friend takes his horse back to his farm.

Problem Solved!