The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1872-09-21
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There is only one case in which you
eau be at fault, and that is iu the event
Of multiple Of 9 being returned to you
as a product. OF course, then, you will
know that either a or 0 must have
been struck out. Had the 0 been struck
out iu the above instance, the result
would have been Sc; had it been the 0,
the product would have been 45 Both
being multiples Of 8, it would be i'm
possible to tell with certainty whether
the missing figure were 8 or 0; but a
good guess would generally be formed
because, if the figures appear suspic.
iously low iu proportion to the time
taken to tot up the sum, you may spec
ulate that your product has most likely
sustained the loss Of the highest 1um
ber
That is clever Persian story about
Mohammed Ali aud the camels, aud
though it will be familiar to many Of my
readers, they will scarcely be sorry to
be reminded Of it. A Persian died.
leaving seventeen camels to be divided
among his three sons 10 the following
proportions: the eldest to have half, the
second third, and the youngest
ninth Ofcourse, eamels can't be diyi.
dcd into fractions, SO in despair, the
brothers submitted their difficulty TO
Moha,nned Ali: IN lend you another
camel to make eighteen, aud now divide
them yourselves. The consequence was,
each brother got from one eighth to
one,half OF a camel more than he was
entitled to, aud Ali received his camel
back again; the eldest brother getting
uin, camels, the second six, and the
third two
johann August Museus, one Of the
most popular German story.writers of
the last century, in his story OF LiJussa,
makes the Lady of Bohemia put forth
the following problem to her three
lovers, Offering her hand aud throne as
the prize for correct solution. Il have
here my basket, said the Lady Libu,sa,
"a gift Of plums for each of you, picked
from my garden. Que Of you shall
have half aud cue more, the second shall
again have half aud one more; the
third shall again have half and
three more. This will empty my bas
ket. Now tell me how many plums are
10 itg
The first knight made random guess
at three score.
No. replied the lady. But if there
were as many more, halt as many more,
and a third AS many more as there are
now in the basket, with five more added
to that, the number would by SO much
exceed threescore MS it now falls short
of it
The second knight, getting awfully
bewildcred, speculatcd wildly on forty
five,
Not SO, said this royal ready reck
oner. But if there were a third as
many more, half as many more, and
sixth as many more as there are now,
there would be in my basket as many
more than forty five as there now are
uuder that number
Prince Wladomir then decided the
number of plums to be thirty; and by
so doing obtained this Invaluable house.
keeper for his wife The Lady Libus-
sa thereupon counted him out fifteen
plums and one more, when there re.
manned fourteen. To the second knight
she gave seven aud one more, and six
remained To the FIRST knight she gave
half Of these and three more; and tho
basket was empty, The discarded low.
ers went off with their heads exceed
ingly giddy and their mouths full of
plums.
Double Position, or the Rule Of False,
by which problems Of this sort are
worked, ought to demolish the common.
place about two wrongs not making
right. Two wrongs do make right,
figure atively speaking, at all events.
Starting with two wilfully false mum.
bers, you work each out to its natural
conclusion. Then, taking tho sum Of
your iniquities as compared with the
falsehoods with which you started, you
have only to multiply them crosswise
to get terms which will bring you
straight to the truth. To be more pre-
else, after tho cross multiplication, If
the errors are alike--that is, both
greater or both less than the number
you want--take their difference for
divisor, and the difference Of their pro.
ducts for dividend. If unlike, take
their sum for divisor, aud the sum of
their products for a dividend. The
quotient will be the answer This is
good arithmetic, aud, for those who can
receive il. NOT bad philosophY. There