Henry Ernest Dudeney/Modern Puzzles/187 - Weighing the Goods

Modern Puzzles by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $187$

Weighing the Goods

A tradesman whose morals had become corrupted during the war by a course of profiteering went to the length of introducing a pair of false scales.

It will be seen from the diagram that one arm is longer than the other,

though they are purposely drawn so as to give no clue as to the answer.

As a consequence, it happened that in one of the cases exhibited eight of the little packets

(it does not matter what they contain)

exactly balanced three of the canisters,

while in the other case one packet appeared to be of the same weight as $6$ canisters.

Now, as the true weight of one canister was known to be exactly one ounce, what was the true weight of the eight packets?

Sources

• 1926: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Modern Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Measuring, Weighing, and Packing Puzzles: $187$. -- Weighing the Goods
• 1968: Henry Ernest Dudeney: 536 Puzzles & Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Arithmetical and Algebraical Problems: Weight Puzzles: $98$. Weighing the Goods