Tom, Dick, Harry and the Gorilla

An Investigation

Tom, Dick, Harry and the Gorilla

On a table is a bag of nuts.Standing round the table are three boys Tom, Dick and Harry and a gorilla

called Hilda. The nuts are to be shared between them.Tom takes the bag of nuts. He gives one to the Gorilla and takes half of what is left for himself, and then passes the bag onto Dick. Dick opens the bag and takes half the nuts for himself before passing one to the Gorilla. He then passes the bag to Harry.

Tom, Dick, Harry and the Gorilla

Harry eats one of the nuts when he gets

the bag and then shares the rest equally

with the Gorilla.

If the Gorilla got 17 nuts in total,

how many nuts were

originally in the bag?

Solution:- Tom, Dick, Harry and the Gorilla

Let x be the number of nuts in the bag originally.

Tom gets ½(x-1) of the nuts. Dick gets ¼(x-1).Harry gets and Hilda gets

Solving the equation , gives x = 129 nuts in the bag.

Therefore Tom = 64 nutsDick = 32 nutsHarry= 16 nutsHilda = 17 nuts

8

1

8

1x

8

7

8

1x

178

7

8

1x