Article 5WVAF Did you solve it? The maths of Lviv

Did you solve it? The maths of Lviv

by
Alex Bellos
from on (#5WVAF)

The solutions to today's food problems

Earlier today I set you the following puzzles about dividing up food, inspired by the Lwow school of mathematics, a group of mathematicians who lived in the city that is now Lviv in the 1930s.

1) Three friends each contribute 4 to buy a 12 ham. The first friend divides it into three parts, asserting the weights are equal. The second friend, distrustful of the first, reweighs the pieces and judges them to be worth 3, 4 and 5. The third, distrustful of them both, weighs the ham on their own scales, getting another result.

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