October 09, 2012
A Word Problem
Click the "spoiler" to reveal what I calculate to be the answer:
Naturally, I might be wrong- I don't do that much algebra these days, especially not before breakfast!
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Three merchants have formed a company. The first invested I know not how much, the second put in 20 pieces of cloth, and the third has invested £500. So at the end of their business, their gains amounted to £1000, wherof the first man ought to have £350, and the second must have £400. Now I demand: how much did the first man invest, and how much were the 20 pieces of cloth [worth that] were invested?This was a homework problem in The well spryng of sciences, a math textbook written by Humfrey Baker in 1562. I came across it in Deborah Harkness's The Jewel House, a history of science in Elizabethan England.
Click the "spoiler" to reveal what I calculate to be the answer:
Naturally, I might be wrong- I don't do that much algebra these days, especially not before breakfast!
Posted by: Boviate at
06:24 AM
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It's actually a problem of definition. The first merchant was a lawyer who invested no money other than filing the necessary paperwork with the city of York, and set up contractual terms wholly beneficial to the party of the first part (and hence the word "ought"). The second man "must" have 400, which means those gains were also set in the partnership agreement. Hence, the cloth was worth 50 because the lawyer wasn't going to give the second man more money than he himself ought to get.
Word problems are easy if you understand the context.
(Or it's the rate of return on investment. I prefer easy numbers.)
Word problems are easy if you understand the context.
(Or it's the rate of return on investment. I prefer easy numbers.)
Posted by: Tim at Tuesday, October 09 2012 07:37 AM (Y+b9O)
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