Minus' Solution to

Mr. Whine's Whine
Posted September 23 - 29, 1996

It's obvious that Mrs. Whine was carrying 7 packages and Mr. Whine was carrying 5. Thus, if Mr. Whine gave one of his packages to his wife, Mrs. Whine would be carrying twice as many packages as her husband.

Drop that bum, Mrs. Whine!
Your Solutions

Luc Berthollet [luc.berthollet@issy.cnet.fr] gave Minus the algebraic solution to this problem:

Mr. Whine carries seven packages while Mrs. Whine carries five packages. 
x= nb of packages carried by Mrs Whine
y= nb of packages carried by Mr Whine
so	x + 1 = 2(y-1)
and	x - 1 = y + 1     (to be solved simultaneously).



suznmay [suznmay@cyberg8t.com] impressed Minus with her(? we can't seem to tell by the name?) step-by-step solution using algebraic formula, too:



Let Mrs. Whine = x and Mr. Whine= y


Then:   x + 1 = 2(y-1) shows what would happen if Mrs. Whine took one of
her husband's packages and x - 1 = y + 1 would be the equation if Mr. Whine 
took one of his wife's packages.


From this equation you can solve for x= y + 2 and then substitute 
it into the first equation. The end result is y=5 and x=7 which would 
make sense. If Mr. Whine took one package from Mrs. Whine, they would both have 6 
packages, but if Mrs. Whine took one from Mr. Whine he would have 4 and 
she would have 8 which is twice his.







Minus' buddy, Christian Tawfik [a9504526@unet.univie.ac.at], is back. He fed our hungry mascot this nibblet:



He has got 5 and she has got 7 packages. So if she gives one to him, both will 
have 6 packages. And if he gives one to her, he has got 4 and she has got 8 packages.








Minus didn't receive a name with this person's solution [browngrp@mainelink.net], but he or she obviously knew what was going on:



x = number of packages Mr. Whine has


x + 2 = number of packages Mrs. Whine has (because if she gives him
           one their load is even)


2 (x-1) = x + 3


After Mr. Whine gives one of his packages to Mrs. Whine his weight 
doubled would be equivalent to her original load plus the package 
received from Mr. Whine.

2(x-1)=x+3
2x-2=x+3
2x=x+5
x=5


Therefore, Mr. Whine has 5 packages and Mrs. Whine has 7.





And last, but not least, Paul A. Mathews [pmathews@netcom.ca] had this to say:



Mrs.Whine has 7 packages, and Mr.Whine has 5.










Thanks for all your great solutions.

Minus would like to show his appreciation

with a gigantic shark burp!