Story

The Camel

The Camel

An old farmer passed away, he left seventeen camels and a will for his three sons. According to the will, the eldest son should get 1/2, the middle son should be given 1/3rd and the youngest son should be given 1/9th of all the camels
As it was not possible to divide seventeen into one half or one third. The sons started to fight with each other. They decided to take the help of a wise man.
If you are the wise man, how will you allocate the camels between three sons to ensure the division?
Photo Adaptation /Flickr/samiksha
Share on

Your Comments

2 Comments

Susheel
Susheel
First I will first add one camel from my side. This will make the total number of camels to 18 Now the eldest son will get 1/2 of 18 viz 9 The second son will get 1/3 of 18 viz 6 The youngest son will get 1/9 of 18 viz 2 Then, I will take back my camel. And the problem of fulfilling the old farmers will is solved.
Manu
Manu
Eldest - 9 Middle - 6 Youngest - 2

Similar Stories


The mistakes we make in our everyday life

• We are hardwired to make these mistakes • Few biases are simply evolutionary • These errors affect all of us including the bright ones • Experience is just not enough to overcome • but expertise is required to recognize and overcome

Few of biases as below · Anchoring - When an individual depends too heavily on an initial piece of information during decision making · Fixed pie - When we assume that our interests conflict with the other party's interests and we play adversarial · Framing - When we decide on our options differently when the options are presented with positive or negative connotations · Vividness – When we pay attention to strong features at the expense of less, that could be more impactful · Over confidence – When our subjective confidence is greater than the objective accuracy · Escalation – When initial decision is followed up with an irrational decision to justify the initial decision

Few ways to mitigate these biases are · Learn to recognize the bias · Use slow, effortful and logical thinking (System 2) · Avoid fast, automatic and effortless thinking (System 1) · Avoid negotiations which are thrust upon when not ready · Learn through use of stories, examples, exercises · Bring an outsider perspective