Greek Anthology Book XIV: Metrodorus: 136

Arithmetical Epigram of Metrodorus

Brick-makers, I am in a great hurry to erect this house.

To-day is cloudless, and I do not require many more bricks, but I have all I want but three hundred.

Thou alone in one day couldst make as many,

but thy son left off working when he had finished two hundred,

and thy son-in-law when he had made two hundred and fifty.

Working all together, in how many hours can you make these?

Let $b$ be the number of bricks they can produce together in one day.

Then:

$\ds b$

$=$

$\ds 300 + 200 + 250$

$\ds $

$=$

$\ds 750$

Thus it takes $\dfrac {300} {750} = \dfrac 2 5$ of a day to produce $300$ bricks when all working together.

$\blacksquare$

This entry was named for Metrodorus.

1918: W.R. Paton: The Greek Anthology Book XIV ... (previous) ... (next): Metrodorus' Arithmetical Epigrams: $136$