Cats and kittens puzzle
Puzzle
Seeing that four cats and three kittens weigh thirty-seven pounds, while three cats and four kittens weigh
but thirty-three pounds, we are
asked to tell the respective weight
of cats and kittens.
Puzzle in short
Solution
Show solution By inspection we see that the upper
scale contains one more cat and one
less kitten than the lower scale, and
the difference is four pounds. One
of the kittens in the lower scale suddenly grows into a cat and gains
four pounds, so the difference between a cat and a kitten being four
pounds, let us change all of the cats
on the upper scales into kittens. It
would then have seven kittens and
sixteen pounds balancing with thirty-seven pounds. Now cancel off the
sixteen pounds from both arms of
the scales and we have seven kittens
balancing with twenty-one pounds,
which proves that a kitten weighs
three pounds and a cat seven pounds.
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