THE BROKEN COINS.
(
Money Puzzles)
A man had three coins--a sovereign, a shilling, and a penny--and he
found that exactly the same fraction of each coin had been broken away.
Now, assuming that the original intrinsic value of these coins was the
same as their nominal value--that is, that the sovereign was worth a
pound, the shilling worth a shilling, and the penny worth a penny--what
proportion of each coin has been lost if the value of the three
remaining fragments is exactly one pound?
Answer:
If the three broken coins when perfect were worth 253 pence, and are now
in their broken condition worth 240 pence, it should be obvious that
13/253 of the original value has been lost. And as the same fraction of
each coin has been broken away, each coin has lost 13/253 of its
original bulk.
