An elderly rancher died and left her estate to her three children. She bequeathed her 17 prize horses in the following manner: 1/2 to the eldest, 1/3 to the second child, and 1/9 to the youngest.

Question

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The children decided to call in a very wise judge to help in the distribution of the rancher's estate. They informed the judge that the 17 horses were not of equal value. The children agreed on a ranking of the 17 horses (#1 being the best and #17 being a real dog of a horse). They asked the judge to divide the estate fairly so that each child would receive not only the correct number of horses but horses whose average rank would also be the same. For example, if a child received horses 1 and 17, the number of horses is two and the average value is . How did the judge apportion the horses?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary since there is more than one solution. Eldest: 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15; middle: 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 16; youngest: 1 and 17.