Crazy Cows
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 neighbour 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 neighbour 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.
The Riddle: What was the neighbor’s solution?
The Answer: The neighbour borrowed an extra cow, to make the total number of cows 18. Then the oldest son got 1 / 2 of 18 is 9 cows, the middle son got 1 / 3 of 18 is 6 cows, and the youngest son got 1 / 9 of 18 is 2 cows. Since 9+6+2 = 17, the cows could be divided among the three brothers in such a way that the borrowed cow was left over, and could be returned to its owner.
What'd You Think?
(48 votes, average: 3.42 out of 5)
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August 3rd, 2007 at 5:40 pm
THIS JOKE STINKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !
August 7th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
ii love yu dewy and this joke was funny
August 14th, 2007 at 11:00 am
what the heck is wrong with those 2 people melilahs and muscles??
August 14th, 2007 at 11:23 am
They’re so stumped by the riddle they don’t even know it wasn’t a joke? It’s ok Samantha, George Carlin once said “Imagine how dumb the average person is, now imagine that half the world is dumber than them.”
September 5th, 2007 at 5:38 am
I didn’t need the neighbor part to figure out this puzzle. I just found the smallest common denominator between 2, 3 and 9 (which is 18) and did the math.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:52 am
I hate riddles and math
I was just thinking shoot the kids and make some cash.
October 27th, 2007 at 10:10 am
this joke sucks
November 7th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
not a joke, but very smart. i like this one..
December 28th, 2007 at 5:24 am
a good riddle and a not so good joke
January 6th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Jangu you are right in only 1 way. It was a good riddle. But in 1 way you are not right. It was a good joke too! hahahahaha! This comment is from MALU. The cleverest girl from New Delhi.
January 6th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Jangu you are right in only 1 way. It was a good riddle. But in 1 way you are not right. It was a good joke too! hahahahaha!
February 19th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
umm IT WASNT A JOKE! IT MADE SENCE THO
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
rubbish ! dont even make sense this is supose to be a RIDDLE not a maths test
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
that is gay
February 24th, 2008 at 6:49 am
couldnt you just add 1+2 thats three and then add 1+3 thats four and then add 9+1 thats ten all together its 17 !!!!!!!!!
March 20th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I wanna know who has the stinkin time to sit aroung and make this stuff up!!!!!!
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
THIS JOKE WAS HORRIBLE! WHO EVER THOUGHT OF THIS JOKE NEEDS TO GET A BETTER SENSE OF HUMOR BECAUSE IT IS RETARDED!! DUMBEST RIDDLE EVER! RIDDLES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY NOT GAY!!
April 8th, 2008 at 9:08 am
i’m not sure if all quite understand that these aren’t ‘jokes’ they’re riddles hence they aren’t SUPPOSED to be funny ..
May 7th, 2008 at 9:59 am
9+6+2= 17 but 9 doesn’t equal 1/2 of 17, 6 is not 1/3, and 2 is not 1/9, the problem is not solved.
even at that, 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/9 doesnt equal 100% so theres no of way of solving from the start of the riddle.
>:O
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:17 am
hehe.. the answer that i thought of is that we should just kill one cow LOL… =D
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Cassie is right. Jokes are supposed to be funny… but riddles aren’t supposed to be funny. : )