Henry Ernest Dudeney/Puzzles and Curious Problems/7 - Squaring Pocket-Money

Puzzles and Curious Problems by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $7$

Squaring Pocket-Money

A man has four different English coins in his pocket,

and their sum in pence was a square number.

He spent one of the coins, and the sum of the remainder in shillings was a square number.

He then spent one of the three, and the sum of the other two in pence was a square number.

And when he deducted the number of farthings in one of them from the number of halfpennies in the other, the remainder was a square number.

What were the coins?

Sources

• 1932: Henry Ernest Dudeney: Puzzles and Curious Problems ... (previous) ... (next): Arithmetical and Algebraical Problems: Money Puzzles: $7$. -- Squaring Pocket-Money