Quiz Question

[lisalou]

In the days of pounds, shillings and pence, strokes rather than decimal points were used to separate �.s.d. e.g. six pounds four shillings and fourpence was written thus, �6/12/4. There was one five-figure quantity of farthings which could be converted into �.s.d. by simply inserting two strokes of a pen. What was it?

Thanks everso.

[Robert G]

Well, I don't know if this will help. Perhaps I'm way off beam, but I can get close to it, I think, with these 'answers' which lie just either side of a perfect fit:

10104 farthings = �10/10/6
10105 farthings = �10/10/6 1/4
10106 farthings = �10/10/6 1/2
10107 farthings = �10/10/6 3/4
10108 farthings = �10/10/7
10109 farthings = �10/10/7 1/4

Clearly there isn't a perfect fit here, so perhaps the answer lies with higher amounts?

Good luck with this.

[Hammond Egg]

12,128 farthings = �12/12/8.

Showing my age! Thank God for mental arithmetic - and spreadsheets!

[halfadaily]

well done Hammond, best I could come up with was �11/11/7 1/4. I didn't think of going higher than that. It was annoying not losing the odd farthing. Who said �.s.d was simpler than decimal! Now I'm showing my age as well

[Hammond Egg]

Robert, halfa: I was looking in the same area as the two of you - and getting increasingly frustrated at near misses. I really don't know how we coped with such a barmy currency system, though I think most people my age and older are better at mental arithmetic than our younger counterparts, with all the times tables we'd have done - I went to school long after farthings were abandoned, and used to wonder why the arithmetic books at school had questions like "What is �1/ 9/ 7 3/4 multiplied by 13?" but the teachers just told us it was useful to know how to do it.

I still can't programme the video, though!

[lisalou]

Thanks everso Robert, Hammond & Halfa for your hard work on this one. I didn't have a clue! Cheers and a Happy New Year to you all.

[Robert G]

Well done, Hammond Egg!

Did you derive a formula with which to calculate the answer? Or was it a case of sheer persistence with arithmetic, tial & error, or iteration?

[Hammond Egg]

It was trial and error and error and error!