leleram
11th March 2006, 04:59 PM
Sardar's Maths
There is this group of 7 Sardars who plan to go to Delhi to
thank the
President Dr. Zail Singh for his revolutionary policies,
from which
they have greatly benefited. Moreover, they are his old
friends, and
are longing to dine with the president.
They agree that it would be appropriate to use a taxi. So
they go to a
taxi driver and ask him how much a ride would cost. The
driver frets
a little and tells them, "Sahab! If only four of you were
to be there
I would charge you just the meter rate, but then since seven
of you
would be there, you have to give me Rs.10/- more."
The Sardars agree and decide to take the taxi. The taxi
driver takes
them to Rashtrapati Bhavan. The meter shows Rs. 18/-, so the
taxi
driver says, "You have to pay me Rs. 28/-." Now, the Sardars
have to
share the cost among themselves and so they decide to divide
the total
(Rs. 28/-) by the number of people, i.e. 7. This is how they
do the
calculation to arrive at the
answer:
____
7 | 28 | 13 ( 7 x 1 = 7, 7 x 3 = 21).
7
--
21
21
--
0
--
The driver (naturally) is exceedingly happy upon receiving
Rs. 13/-
from each of the Sardars. He thanks them profusely and the
feeling of
exultant happiness is writtern on his face as he leaves
them and
proceeds his way.
Seeing this, the Sardars feel that they may have made a
mistake.
They decide to ask Zail Singh about it. After all, the
fellow was
the President of the nation! After all the initial
formalities are
completed, they ask Zail Singh to check their calculation of
the taxi
fare. Zail Singh ponders over the calculations and finally
says,
"See, I am not good at division. The process just boggles
me but
addition is something I am an expert at. Let us add all the
amounts
you guys gave to the taxi driver and check the result.
This is how I do for those tax forms I get very often. The
process is
slow but is sure." The other sardars nod their heads(?) in
appreciation.
The President writes as shown below and also explains as he
writes on:
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
--
28
i.e. 3+3+3+3+3+3+3= 21 and 21+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=28 so this
checks out. He
then says, "Yes, it's correct. But I can also call my close
friend
and Finance man Manmohan Singh. It is always better that he
rechecks it.
After all, he is a Finance man,you know!" Manmohan Singh
arrives,
and when told of the problem,he replies that he doesn't
think it is
a bad deal but says, "No problem! I will verify it via
mathematical
computation. I'll verify it with multiplication. That is
the best
technique for this, you see!"
While others watch in admiration, Manmohan Singh goes on to
write as
shown:
13
x7
---
21 (3x7)
7 (1x7)
--
28
-- This checks out as
well.
Then he says, "This is really fine. There should be no
problem,
President Sahab. After all, it is correct in all the
methods"
There is this group of 7 Sardars who plan to go to Delhi to
thank the
President Dr. Zail Singh for his revolutionary policies,
from which
they have greatly benefited. Moreover, they are his old
friends, and
are longing to dine with the president.
They agree that it would be appropriate to use a taxi. So
they go to a
taxi driver and ask him how much a ride would cost. The
driver frets
a little and tells them, "Sahab! If only four of you were
to be there
I would charge you just the meter rate, but then since seven
of you
would be there, you have to give me Rs.10/- more."
The Sardars agree and decide to take the taxi. The taxi
driver takes
them to Rashtrapati Bhavan. The meter shows Rs. 18/-, so the
taxi
driver says, "You have to pay me Rs. 28/-." Now, the Sardars
have to
share the cost among themselves and so they decide to divide
the total
(Rs. 28/-) by the number of people, i.e. 7. This is how they
do the
calculation to arrive at the
answer:
____
7 | 28 | 13 ( 7 x 1 = 7, 7 x 3 = 21).
7
--
21
21
--
0
--
The driver (naturally) is exceedingly happy upon receiving
Rs. 13/-
from each of the Sardars. He thanks them profusely and the
feeling of
exultant happiness is writtern on his face as he leaves
them and
proceeds his way.
Seeing this, the Sardars feel that they may have made a
mistake.
They decide to ask Zail Singh about it. After all, the
fellow was
the President of the nation! After all the initial
formalities are
completed, they ask Zail Singh to check their calculation of
the taxi
fare. Zail Singh ponders over the calculations and finally
says,
"See, I am not good at division. The process just boggles
me but
addition is something I am an expert at. Let us add all the
amounts
you guys gave to the taxi driver and check the result.
This is how I do for those tax forms I get very often. The
process is
slow but is sure." The other sardars nod their heads(?) in
appreciation.
The President writes as shown below and also explains as he
writes on:
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
--
28
i.e. 3+3+3+3+3+3+3= 21 and 21+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=28 so this
checks out. He
then says, "Yes, it's correct. But I can also call my close
friend
and Finance man Manmohan Singh. It is always better that he
rechecks it.
After all, he is a Finance man,you know!" Manmohan Singh
arrives,
and when told of the problem,he replies that he doesn't
think it is
a bad deal but says, "No problem! I will verify it via
mathematical
computation. I'll verify it with multiplication. That is
the best
technique for this, you see!"
While others watch in admiration, Manmohan Singh goes on to
write as
shown:
13
x7
---
21 (3x7)
7 (1x7)
--
28
-- This checks out as
well.
Then he says, "This is really fine. There should be no
problem,
President Sahab. After all, it is correct in all the
methods"