Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes/Problems/43 - De Porcis

by : Problem $43$

 * De Porcis: A puzzle of pigs
 * A man has $300$ pigs, and orders that the pigs must be killed,
 * an odd number each day,
 * in $3$ days.


 * How many pigs should be killed each day?

Solution
In the words of :
 * This is a fable.
 * No-one can solve how to kill $300$ pigs in $3$ days, an odd number each day.
 * This fable is given to children.

Modern interpretations can produce answers along the lines:
 * $1$ on the first day, $1$ on the second day, and $298$ on the third day.
 * $298$ is a very odd number of pigs to kill in one day.

As such, this is a fallacy of equivocation:
 * odd meaning either an odd number as opposed to an even number
 * odd meaning unusual or strange.

Also presented as
Some sources present this problem with the number of pigs being set to $30$.

The answer is the same.

You cannot add $3$ odd numbers and reach $30$.