Here’s a classic lateral thinking puzzle that I posted to our facebook page: A hunter meets two shepherds. One of the shepherds is carrying three loaves of bread, and the other shepherd is carrying five loaves. The three men decide to share all of the loaves for dinner.
After they finished, the hunter gave the two shepherds eight coins as payment for the meal.
Assuming the loaves were all the same size, how should the two shepherds divide the coins?
Leave your answer in the comment section below, and it would be great if you shared your thought process with everyone.
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14 Comments On This Post
We might think that 8 coins should be divided to the eight loaves of bread eaten. But if each shepherd ate a portion of their share of bread, why would the hunter pay for that? with this in mind, Shepherd A (3 loaves) should be paid two coins while Shpherd B (5 loaves) should be paid three and one-thirds of the coins. The hunter should get his change. 8 coins less five and one-thirds, the hunter will two 2 and two-thirds of the coins paid.
If they split 8 loaves between 3 ppl then each ate 2 2/3 loaves. That means that the first shepard only had 1/3 loaf to give to the hunter and the other shepard contributed 2 1/3 to the hunters meal. Therfore the first shepard contributed 1/8 and the second contributed 7/8 to the hunters meal. First shepard 1 coin and the second 7 coins.
a logic is involved in this .the 8 loaves wre divided as 8/3 each
that too easy….3 coins for 3 loaves and 5 coins for 5 loaves of bread
But what about the fact that they shared all the loves between the three of them? Did they not have all a same share in the loves?
We are not told anything about how the loaves were shared, how large or how hungry each man was. We can assume that the loaves were divided evenly, but if we calculate only on the information we were given the answer would have to be 3 coins and 5 coins, would it not?
Hi Jemma,
The loaves of the bread were equally shared between the three men.
It’s 1 and 7. The proceeds are split proportionate to the amount of bread each shephard gave up to feed the hunter. There were 8 pieces, so each man ate 2 2/3 piece of bread. Which meant one shephard gave up 1/3 of a piece while the other gave 2 1/3 pieces. Of the combined 2 2/3 bread given up, 1/3 represents 1/8 and 2 2/3 is 7/8 … hence, one coin for the shephard that had 3 pieces of bread and 7 coins for the shepard that had 5.
I think the shepherd who had shared 5 loaves of bread should get 5 coins, and the shepherd who had shared 3 loaves of bread should get 3 coins.
1 & 7
I love problem solving puzzles like this. Your answer is 3 coins and 5 coins just like the loaves of bread.
One shepherd has 5 coins and one has 3.
the shepherds who is carrying three loaves of bread get one coin and the other shepherd who is carrying five loaves get 7 coins.
Thank you,
HXZ
[...] Lateral Thinking Puzzle #1 Solution Email Print The following is the solution to the lateral thinking puzzle: Three Men and Their Dinner. [...]