Steve's Programming Challenge: Weights and Measures

[SMcNeill]

My father owned an Italian Deli when I was a kid. This reminds me of the time I was taking my first algebra class in junior high school, and I asked him...

Ham is $1.50 a pound, Cheese is $1.00 a pound, and roast beef is $2.50 a pound. If a man walks into your store and has $20 to spend and he wants twice as much roast beef as ham but half as much cheese as roast beef and wants to know how much roast beef, ham, and cheese he will get for $20, what do you tell him?

My Dad's reply was: "I'd tell him to get the hell out of my store!"

Pete 

Your story of your dad also reminds me of one my own father used to tell years ago.

One of the nearby neighbors had 3 sons and 17 horses.  When he passed away, the will read:  "I want to give my oldest son 1/2 of my horses, my middle son 1/3 of my horses and my youngest son 1/9 of my horses."   

The family had no idea how to handle such a situation, so they asked my grandfather for help.   He thought on the issue that night, went to bed, and rode over the next morning on his old horse and gave it to the family as a funeral present.

Now, it wasn't so hard to sort out what to do:
The oldest got 1/2 of 18, which was 9 horses.
The middle child got 1/3 of 18, which was 6 horses.
The youngest child got 1/9 of 18, which was 2 horses.

And the horse left over, my grandfather claimed for himself, as fee for solving their problem, as he rode back home later that morning on the same horse which he rode in on.