- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
A rich rancher died, and when his will was read it was discovered that he had left an inheritance to be shared among his three favorite athletes, Evan Lysacek, Johnny Weir, and Stephen Carriere.
The inheritance consisted of 17 prize horses, and the stipulation was that Evan (the favorite of the deceased) would get one-half, Johnny would get one-third, and Stephen would get one-ninth.
No one could figure out how to divide up the 17 horses in these proportions. So they called upon the Olympic champion, Shizuka Arakawa, for advice. The wise and lovely Ms. Arakawa rode up on her own horse.
"There is only one way to settle this," said she. "I will contribute my horse to the estate."
So Shizuka put her own horse in the corral to make up a total of 18. Now the division was easy.
Evan: 1/2 of 18 = 9 horses.
Johnny: 1/3 of 18 = 6 horses.
Stephen: 1/9 of 18 = 2 horses.
But much to everyone’s surprise, there was still one horse left in the corral – Shizuka's!
As Shizuka rode off into the sunset, Johnny mused to himself, “Well, I really can’t complain. I got more than my share. My share was one-third of 17, which should have been five and two-thirds horses. But I actually got a full six. One of the others must have come out on the short end and got less than his full share.”
Was it Evan or Stephen?
The inheritance consisted of 17 prize horses, and the stipulation was that Evan (the favorite of the deceased) would get one-half, Johnny would get one-third, and Stephen would get one-ninth.
No one could figure out how to divide up the 17 horses in these proportions. So they called upon the Olympic champion, Shizuka Arakawa, for advice. The wise and lovely Ms. Arakawa rode up on her own horse.
"There is only one way to settle this," said she. "I will contribute my horse to the estate."
So Shizuka put her own horse in the corral to make up a total of 18. Now the division was easy.
Evan: 1/2 of 18 = 9 horses.
Johnny: 1/3 of 18 = 6 horses.
Stephen: 1/9 of 18 = 2 horses.
But much to everyone’s surprise, there was still one horse left in the corral – Shizuka's!
As Shizuka rode off into the sunset, Johnny mused to himself, “Well, I really can’t complain. I got more than my share. My share was one-third of 17, which should have been five and two-thirds horses. But I actually got a full six. One of the others must have come out on the short end and got less than his full share.”
Was it Evan or Stephen?
