Three travellers met at a lonely oasis. One had 3 loaves of bread, but no money; another had 5 loaves of bread, but no money; while the third had only money. They sat down to a meal and the kind travellers shared their bread equally among all 3. In the morning, the traveller with the money departed leaving 8 silver coins for the other 2 in payment for the bread. How should they share the coins fairly?
Answer
Since they all shared the 8 loaves, they ate loaves each. Thus one gave 1/3 of a loaf while the other gave loaves to the man with none. The second one gave 7 times as much and should receive 7 times as much back as the other.
The first should get one coin while the other gets 7 coins.
