Riddle driving a study group insane!

J

jessedark

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A man died leaving nearly $8000 to be divided between his widow, four daughters, and three sons. He stipulated that each daughter should receive twice as much as their mother and each son receive twice as much as their mother. If the exact amount left was $7936, how much should the widow receive?

The book says the correct answer is $256. But how?

We all get


Total shares (4x2)=8, (3x2)=6, (1x1)=1
8+6+1= 15
7936/15 = 1 share.
1 share = $529.066

Help! WHERE ARE WE GOING WRONG?!
 
I suspect that you, or someone else, miscopied the riddle. It reads as if the sons and daughters should be getting different amounts, but they are the same. At least one of the "twice"s should probably be different. If the daughters got thrice as much as the mother, and the sons twice as much as each daughter, for example, it could work.
 
So im not going insane. Is there ANY POSSIBLE WAY that the above (correctly written) riddle could equate to the answer of 256?
 
Well, I told you one possible rewrite:

A man died leaving nearly $8000 to be divided between his widow, four daughters, and three sons. He stipulated that each daughter should receive thrice as much as their mother and each son receive twice as much as each daughter. If the exact amount left was $7936, how much should the widow receive?​

Then we have w + 4(3w) + 3(2(3w)) = 7936, so that 31w = 7936 and w = 7936/31 = 256.

In fact, I did a search and found essentially this (along with other variations), from which your may have been miscopied. Here is one:
https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/bgac3j

Where did yours come from? What book is it?
 
Last edited:
I understand. I should clarify. Is there anyway that the riddle using 2x the mother for daughters and 2x the mother for sons could possibly equate to 256? I think no, but im not a maths genius like you all!
 
Well Dr Peterson suggested one such example.

The answer to your question is yes. Just find a multiply of 4 and a multiple of 3 that adds up to 30.

How about the daughters get nothing and the son's each get 10 times what their mother gets (note: 0*4 + 10*3 = 30)

How about the daughters get 6 times what the mother gets and the son's get 2 times what the mother gets?

How about the daughters get 2.5 times what mom gets and the son's get 20/3 times what mom gets?
 
jessedark said:
… Is there anyway that the riddle using 2x the mother for daughters and 2x the mother for sons could possibly equate to 256?
Click to expand...
No, because that amount doesn't add up.

15 shares valued at $256 each is only $3840.

Seven children get two shares each,; therefore, each child gets $1058.13, the widow gets $529.07 and the lawyer pockets the two leftover pennies.

?
 
jessedark said:
I understand. I should clarify. Is there anyway that the riddle using 2x the mother for daughters and 2x the mother for sons could possibly equate to 256? I think no, but im not a maths genius like you all!
Click to expand...
Please answer my question: What is the faulty source of your wrong version of the problem?

If you want 256 to be the answer, then you need to change the wording in some way. Your initial work was correct, and I am reasonably certain that your problem was copied wrong.
 
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