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The following popular mathematical parable is well known: A father left 17 camels to his three sons and, according to the will, the eldest son should be given a half of all camels, the middle son the one-third part and the youngest son the one-ninth.
How many camel did the father want to give to Nathu?
Answer: Nathu was the second son, so after giving half of the camels to the first son, the father wanted to give one-third of the camels to Nathu.
Where did camels originate?
North America
The camel family originated in North America, where fossils of many different kinds of camel ‘prototypes’ have been discovered. These early camels seem to have appeared in a wide range of shapes and sizes, with the smallest being only the size of a rabbit, and the largest standing 4.5m (15ft) at the shoulder!
How many camels does the father leave to his sons?
To the first son, he leaves half the camels; to the middle son, he leaves a third of the camels; and to the youngest son, he leaves a ninth of the camels. The three sons get into an intense negotiation over who should get how many, because 17 doesn’t divide by two, or by three, or by nine.
When did camels first appear in North America?
The earliest known camel, called Protylopus, lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago (during the Eocene). It was about the size of a rabbit and lived in the open woodlands of what is now South Dakota. By 35 million years ago, the Poebrotherium was the size of a goat and had many more traits similar to camels and llamas.
What is the oldest fossil camel in the world?
Protylopus is the oldest fossil camel known. It was from the Eocene of north America and lived between 45 and 40 million years ago. It stood two and a half feet tall with the fore legs somewhat shorter than the hind legs and with four toes on the front feet. By around 30 million years ago, A slightly larger camel was Probotherium.
Where were Bactrian Camels domesticated?
Dromedary camels were domesticated in Arabia. Domestication subsumed both species, and the wild Bactrian camel of China and Mongolia is actually a different species entirely from the species of Bactrian camel that was eventually domesticated.