{"id":267118,"date":"2025-03-26T12:03:23","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T12:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/math-puzzle-the-lesser-fool\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T12:03:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T12:03:23","slug":"math-puzzle-the-lesser-fool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/math-puzzle-the-lesser-fool\/","title":{"rendered":"Math puzzle: The Lesser Fool"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar single__rich-text___RmCDp\" data-component=\"video-embed\">\n<style><![CDATA[\np[class^=\"article-footer__feedback\"]{display:none;}\n]]><\/style>\n<p>In honor of April Fools\u2019 Day, I offer the puzzling case of the Lesser Fool.<\/p>\n<p>In a fictional town, there lived an odd wanderer. People would present him with two amounts of money or goods and ask which is greater. Even though they offered to give him whichever amount he chose, the Fool would always select the smaller one.<\/p>\n<p>People came from afar just to test him. Whatever the currency, whatever the quantities, whatever convoluted form the question took, he picked the amount worth less \u2014 and then strolled away cheerfully.<\/p>\n<p>The following are some of the questions the Lesser Fool was asked. Can you get them right?<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cWhich is greater,\u201d asked a business tycoon, \u201ctwelve thousand and twelve dollars, or eleven thousand eleven hundred and eleven dollars?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhich is greater,\u201d asked a grandmother, holding up a pie sliced finely enough to feed all of her grandchildren, \u201c19\/200 of this pie, or 29\/300 of it?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhich is worth more,\u201d asked a bank teller, \u201c1 kilogram of quarters, or 25 kilograms of pennies?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhich is greater,\u201d asked a clockmaker, \u201ca penny for every second in a month, or a penny for every hour in a century?\u201d (The Fool answered with mental math alone.)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhich is greater,\u201d asked an engineer, \u201cthe tenth root of $10, or the cube root of $2?\u201d (The Fool used pencil and paper for this one.)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cConsider these two envelopes,\u201d said a lawyer. \u201cThe first contains $10 plus half of what\u2019s in the second. The second contains $20 minus half of what\u2019s in the first. Which envelope contains more money?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI\u2019ve got an exciting but volatile fund,\u201d said a hedge fund manager. \u201cIn our first year, we gained 90 percent. In our second year, we lost 50 percent. Would you rather have the amount we originally invested, or our current value?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>BONUS: <\/strong>One day, a child approached the Fool. \u201cTo answer so reliably, you must know which amount is larger. So why do you always take the smaller?\u201d the child asked. \u201cAnd if you\u2019re called the Lesser Fool, who\u2019s the Greater Fool?\u201d The Fool only smiled. Can you answer the child\u2019s questions?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking for answers?<\/strong> Go to <a href=\"http:\/\/sciencenews.org\/puzzle-answers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>sciencenews.org\/puzzle-answers<\/strong><\/a>. We\u2019ll publish science-themed crosswords and math puzzles on alternating months. We\u2019d love to hear your thoughts. Email us at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/mailto:puzzles@sciencenews.org\" data-type=\"mailto\" data-id=\"mailto:puzzle@sciencenews.org\">puzzles@sciencenews.org<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!-- \/.rich-text --><\/p>\n<footer class=\"article-footer__wrapper___eChRS article-footer__with-sidebar___9oDuK\">\n<p class=\"article-footer__feedback___sNXjz\">Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/mailto:feedback@sciencenews.org\">feedback@sciencenews.org<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/permission-republish\">Reprints FAQ<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-bio__wrapper___ODe-4\">\n<div class=\"author-bio__content___F9GU3\">\n<div class=\"author-bio__bio___jkxvt\">\n<p>Ben Orlin is the author of\u00a0<em>Math with Bad Drawings<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/footer><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/math-puzzle-the-lesser-fool\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In honor of April Fools\u2019 Day, I offer the puzzling case of the Lesser Fool. In a fictional town, there lived an odd wanderer. People would present him with two amounts of money or goods and ask which is greater. Even though they offered to give him whichever amount he chose, the Fool would always [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/040125_puzzle_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[681,107613,38826,5433],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267120,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267118\/revisions\/267120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}