A father leaves 17 camels to 3 sons — 1/2 to the first, 1/3 to the second, 1/9 to the third. How do they divide them without cutting a single camel?

Question

Accepted Answer

Borrow one camel from a neighbour. 18 ÷ 2 = 9, 18 ÷ 3 = 6, 18 ÷ 9 = 2. That’s 17. Return the borrowed camel. — The fractions don’t add to 1 — they sum to 17/18. The 18th camel exists only to make the math work; it goes home untouched.