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From: hopp@nbs-amrf.UUCP (Ted Hopp)
Newsgroups: net.puzzle
Subject: Monkey Puzzle
Message-ID: <53@nbs-amrf.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 6-Nov-85 22:13:45 EST
Article-I.D.: nbs-amrf.53
Posted: Wed Nov  6 22:13:45 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Nov-85 16:59:50 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: National Bureau of Standards
Lines: 23

Inspired by a problem posted to net.physics, I dug this up.

From the UCLA Engineering Student Newsletter (sometime in the dark ages):

A rope over the top of a fence has the same length on each side.
Weighs 1/3 lb. per ft.  On one end hangs a monkey holding a banana, and
on the other end a wt. equal to the wt. of the monkey.  The banana
weighs 2 oz. per inch.  The rope is as long as the age of the monkey,
and the wt. of the monkey (in ounces) is as much as the age of the
monkey's mother.  The combined ages of monkey and mother are 30 years.
1/2 the wt. of the monkey, plus the wt. of the banana, is 1/4 as much
as the wt. of the wt. and the wt. of the rope.  The monkey's mother is
1/2 as old as the monkey will be when it is 3 times as old as its
mother was when she was 1/2 as old as the monkey will be when it is as
old as its mother will be when she is 4 times as old as the monkey was
when it was twice as old as its mother was when she was 1/3 as old as
the monkey was when it was as old as its mother was when she was 3
times as old as the monkey was when it was 1/4 as old as it is now.
How long is the banana?

-- 

Ted Hopp	{seismo,umcp-cs}!nbs-amrf!hopp