REAPING THE CORN.
(
Money Puzzles)
A farmer had a square cornfield. The corn was all ripe for reaping, and,
as he was short of men, it was arranged that he and his son should share
the work between them. The farmer first cut one rod wide all round the
square, thus leaving a smaller square of standing corn in the middle of
the field. "Now," he said to his son, "I have cut my half of the field,
and you can do your share." The son was not quite satisfied as to the
proposed division of labour, and as the village schoolmaster happened to
be passing, he appealed to that person to decide the matter. He found
the farmer was quite correct, provided there was no dispute as to the
size of the field, and on this point they were agreed. Can you tell the
area of the field, as that ingenious schoolmaster succeeded in doing?
Answer:
The whole field must have contained 46.626 square rods. The side of the
central square, left by the farmer, is 4.8284 rods, so it contains
23.313 square rods. The area of the field was thus something more than a
quarter of an acre and less than one-third; to be more precise, .2914 of
an acre.
