The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-01-24
soME OLD

H1&A0GN
mortality. No matter how often the solu-
ton 10 printed or how widely an exhaust
i've answer is published the question
comes mp again. before the ink In fairly
dried. tn the lips OF hundreds who have
not seen the reply or who either can not
understand IL or will not accept ID. There
are several of these which we have print
ed ID often. hut which still kept coming,
that to saw , further time We struck OH a
hundred proofs Of each and mailed one
70 the iuuuirers i'm succession without
comment. These proofs are exhausted
and we have now accumulated from "a
score or more of correspondents the same
old questions with urgent requests for a
fresh solution.
The original question sent tn us forty
years ago was how to find the product of
r1a as lid ~ multiplied 10y itself. OF course
IL the parts Of the pounds were stated AS
fractions, and the pounds as whole num-
beers, then ~ s5sxaOths could bc multiplied
by itself. but money of account has not
two dimensions. IL ~ table Is 4 feet wide
and 4 feet long. then four times four equal
. .i.,scn f fses a n% , Ts n s.rfas see P Fixe sime es
Ave pounds are E25, hut five pounds time
pounds H. unmeaning. as money does not
children are four children. but twice
children two children has no meaning.
So nineteen pounds, nineteen shillinRs.
teen pounds, nineteen. shillinRs. eleven
pence, three farthings,'' il utter nonsense.
vb Mss rem. pI sis oi Se sne 70 ', ss, a aask. one is
some form of u. problem which ropos
to divide q whole sum into fractions that
together did not make the dividend. The
original of this i'm our columns was an am
swer to an actual case where n man In his
will had divised one.third.. o~ne-fourth,
one-fifth and one sixth of his property
respectively to his four children, suppos-
ing that he had thus divised the " hole Of
ms made ss'nsf; rss fs"s,,GnI mentioned nf Wholly SnIs
lumber. This is easily seen il they arr.
reduced to a common denominator. One
tifteen-sixtieths, one-afth is t~weIve-six-
tieths and one-sixth Is ten sixtieths. which
together make but .fifty-seven sixtieths,
leaving three-sixtieths Tor l-ath) tn make
This puzzle reappears in some form
every few days the year round. IL 1.
in the Interpretation of the Arabs will.
He had fifteen horses and four SONS. He
a1osSer = ~ o',s sT' sv,tlls os an son s;n,t y a,t
the last n sixteenth. They found il i'm.
possible TO agree ON a division. The eld-
not be half of fifteen horses, he should
have eight. but the other SONS objected,
and As neither one-half. one-fourth, one
son an even lot they had a fierce dispute
up Just as the quarrel MAS at its
encee dlsmountcd and generously offered
to al his mare To the Is belonging to
his allotted share from the whole IL. only
Iected: The addition made an easy soiu-
eight as his half of the Is, the next took
his eighth, and the fourth took one for his
sixteenth. A. this made hut Is the sheik
mounted his mare aud rode away. The
Arab boy: regarded il as a miracle, and
the sheik for his generous / .terferencc.
In spite of this oft-told tale the problem
still survives and annually puzzles hum
dreds OF our cOuntrymen.
A more recent problem, which we have
already answered several times, but
which is repeated every week from. some
The original question, which
answered several years Ago.. was:
vi i'd s'' b. the Sns sla.if9s 4 Ths s~G nn,%inki III,
person would say that as the half of two
thirds is one-third. this must he the sol,i- !
o. il. Fh f %aesie S"' Of 8s z Divided Ti.. f by
is l,$.that is, y will go i'm Il one and
one-third times. The last form OF
is tn find the %quotieut of 1 divided by
q, two partners i'm a leading banking
h"uss. having disputed; AS they say, all
laining tina, one dividend by Ais y. and
!. 2; that is. X will be found 2 times in i.
he divided by n the answer Is ~; that
Is, there are twelve halves in six. We
Jul A~k paEbpu III III uNitGINrS IOr re- 4
peating the So demonstrations il il were
MT for the character and magnitude of
The disputes which occur every day con-
rerning them.
We have reserved for the last Of the
the century question, which will
never he laid to rest, we believe, as long AS
the world stands. We printed $50 proofs
OF u FORMER answer, and they have all
been distributed tn parties who have quar-
over il. A writer whose initials are
r. T.. IL. asks us i'm "a letter just to hand
shether the twentieth century begins
January I, 1870, OF January 1, 1901, /
and declares that of all whom he adj
for AN answer about half took one
date and half the other. There should he
no question about il. This century ends
with the last moment of the year 800. and
next begins with January I. 1901.
The muddle grows out of the fixed idea
some people have that the X
ing of time begins with IA cipher, and one
is counted when the hour, day. month |
or year LAS closed; whereas all the count
ing OF time begins with one. aud mt the
end of the first period two begins to count.
Thus. when 70 child is born he enters on
his first day of the first month Of the first
year OF his life. His ten years are finished.
not when he enters in his tenth
year. but at its close; and his
hunure years are completed, not
when the hundredth year is begun, but
ended. When we write 1900 we have bs-
gun the last year Of the century, not ended
t.. The centur es do not begin with o, 100,
30. but with l.. 1O1. 1O1. aud thus the