THE LABOURER'S PUZZLE.
(
Money Puzzles)
Professor Rackbrane, during one of his rambles, chanced to come upon a
man digging a deep hole.
"Good morning," he said. "How deep is that hole?"
"Guess," replied the labourer. "My height is exactly five feet ten
inches."
"How much deeper are you going?" said the professor.
"I am going twice as deep," was the answer, "and then my head will be
twice as far below ground as it is now above ground."
Rackbrane now asks if you could tell how deep that hole would be when
finished.
Answer:
The man said, "I am going twice as deep," not "as deep again." That is
to say, he was still going twice as deep as he had gone already, so that
when finished the hole would be three times its present depth. Then the
answer is that at present the hole is 3 ft. 6 in. deep and the man 2 ft.
4 in. above ground. When completed the hole will be 10 ft. 6 in. deep,
and therefore the man will then be 4 ft. 8 in. below the surface, or
twice the distance that he is now above ground.
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