Henry Ernest Dudeney/Modern Puzzles/144 - The Bricklayer's Task

Modern Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $144$

The Bricklayer's Task

When a man walled in his estate, one of the walls was partly level and partly over a small rise or hill,

precisely as shown in the drawing herewith, wherein it will be observed that the distance from $A$ to $B$ is the same as from $B$ to $C$.

Now, the master-builder desired and claimed that he should be paid more for the part that was on the hill than for the part that was level,

since (at least, so he held) it demanded the use of more material.

But the employer insisted that he should pay less for that part.

It was a nice point, over which they nearly had recourse to the law.

Which of them was in the right?

Sources

• 1926: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Modern Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Geometrical Problems: Various Geometrical Puzzles: $144$. -- The Bricklayer's Task
• 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Geometrical Problems: Plane Geometry Puzzles: $305$. The Bricklayer's Task