Merry Go Round Puzzle
Sammy is on a Merry Go Round. During the ride, he realises this:
One third of the number of kids riding ahead of me, added to three-quarter of those riding behind me gives the correct number of children on this Merry-Go-Round" is the way he puts it; but it will puzzle you quite a little to tell just how many riders there were at this whirling circus.
The answer is 13.
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1 solution
The trick to this question is that a Merry-Go-Round is circular, and therefore all of the other children are both ahead of and behind Sammy, as we can follow the circle around in either direction. Let the number of children other than Sammy be x , making the total number x + 1 : 3 1 ( children in front ) + 4 3 ( children behind ) = ( total children ) 3 x + 4 3 x = x + 1 4 x + 9 x = 1 2 x + 1 2 x = 1 2 Therefore the total number of children is 1 2 + 1 = 1 3