[Guest]

There were you->the chef,6 men->boarders of the ship, 5 apples and a knife.Several minutes later,the six men wanted an apple(but not you)each.How can you divide the apple among the six men by using the knife 1 time?

[Guest]

You could just take that sixth guy (you know, that guy whose the one responsible for bringing only 5 apples to begin with) and bring him on deck, in the dead of night, with the illusion of having an apple all to himself, and when positioned just right near the railing, throw him overboard. Now you can use the knife as defense when the other 5 guys want more apples. Just tell them, "One slice is all I need..." arrgh.

[Guest]

line the apples up and cut 1/5 off the top of each in one fell swoop.

[Guest]

There were you->the chef,6 men->boarders of the ship, 5 apples and a knife.Several minutes later,the six men wanted an apple(but not you)each.How can you divide the apple among the six men by using the knife 1 time?

Stating "the six men wanted an apple--EACH" insinuates a desire for six apples, and the dilema becomes how to divide six ways with one cut when you only have five in the set-up. Focusing on the singular nature of "the apple" adds a contradictory element. Possesion of, desire for, or use of a SINGLE apple is never mentioned or eluded to until the later use of the word apple instead of apples. I chose to look at "the apple" as all apples, assuming an omitted "s". However, if one needed to satisfy it as a singular, (the other four apples must have rolled off the boat, or I'm just skimping despite their desire for an apple each), I'd simply smash the apple with the edge of the blade (chef's knife, since I'm a "chef"), seperate into six piles of mush with my hands, and tell them to dig in.

[Guest]

Kev-o,mudguts and nik almost correct.But later when u kill someone then the chef go jail and the rest 5 men will die of starvation because they do not know how to cook food.Try another answer.

Since the chef "goes" to jail, not "go" to jail, and this is the original "poster", it's a pretty safe bet it's 'sposed to read "apples". 8)

[Guest]

I would toss all the apples up in the air and yell, 'SCRAMBLE!!!!!!' Then while they were fighting, grab an apple every time it comes near me and make myself a nice apple pie/cobbler/crumble/snow/sponge/charlotte :D :D :D

[Guest]

Are you one of the six men or are you the chef? If I am member of the six men, and you say "six men but not you want an apple" then really only the 5 men want an apple and they each eat 1 apple. No knife even needed

[Guest]

1. kill one, then you have 5 apples & 5 men.

2 Use the knife to peel the apples in one continuous movement, cook them, dip them into equal portions.

Edited May 14, 2009 by twoyellowdogs4me

[Guest]

let them eat cake

[Guest]

It says use the knife once, but not one cut only, so cut the 5 apples into 30 pieces, and give each man 6 equal pieces.

[Guest]

I like many of the answers that have been given so far, especially "kill one of the men" and "cut one of the apples in two". However, assuming that the five apples have to be divided evenly among the six men, and that the knife can only be used (on apples) to make one cut, this is the best I could come up with:

You use the knife to cut 1/6 of one of the apples off (being an expert chef, you can easily eyeball this and do it in one cut). You give a whole apple to each of the first four men, 5/6 of an apple to the fifth, and last piece to the sixth. You then tell them to start eating. Wait until the fifth man finishes his apple, then tell the rest of the men to stop.

Incidentally, they have to listen to what you say because you're the one with the knife (after all, they don't know it can only be used on apples).

In any case, at this point, all the men have eaten 5/6 of an apple except for the sixth, who has only eaten 1/6. Now you have the rest of the men give their remaining pieces to the sixth man, bringing his total up to 5/6 as well.

Of course, this solution depends on everyone eating at the same rate.

[Guest]

or 5 eqaual parts i meant.

[Guest]

You could just take that sixth guy (you know, that guy whose the one responsible for bringing only 5 apples to begin with) and bring him on deck, in the dead of night, with the illusion of having an apple all to himself, and when positioned just right near the railing, throw him overboard. Now you can use the knife as defense when the other 5 guys want more apples. Just tell them, "One slice is all I need..." arrgh.

this was awesome, I had a laugh riot reading this

[Guest]

On the knife point ask two of the apples to mate n get the new baby apple, ask 6 men to wait untill baby gets old enough. meanwhile advise other apples from rotting. Once the baby grows up ask men to eat em and you must run away, else the APPLE GHOST will haunt u forever. ....

- anyone for more crazy answer

[Guest]

You use the knife to cut 1/6 of one of the apples off (being an expert chef, you can easily eyeball this and do it in one cut). You give a whole apple to each of the first four men, 5/6 of an apple to the fifth, and last piece to the sixth. You then tell them to start eating. Wait until the fifth man finishes his apple, then tell the rest of the men to stop.

Incidentally, they have to listen to what you say because you're the one with the knife (after all, they don't know it can only be used on apples).

In any case, at this point, all the men have eaten 5/6 of an apple except for the sixth, who has only eaten 1/6. Now you have the rest of the men give their remaining pieces to the sixth man, bringing his total up to 5/6 as well.

Of course, this solution depends on everyone eating at the same rate.

Bonus points for the ick factor.

[Guest]

Give an apple to the most annoying guy, then use the knife to disembowel his large intestine and use the contents to feed the second most annoying of the group the bits of apple scraped out.

[Guest]

There were you->the chef,6 men->boarders of the ship, 5 apples and a knife.Several minutes later,the six men wanted an apple(but not you)each.How can you divide the apple among the six men by using the knife 1 time?

kill one of the men by stabbing him with the knife he no longer wants an apple

then 5 men, 5 apples

[Guest]

Number the apples 1 to 5

Ask the first man and the sixth man to stand together and give these first two men apple 1. Give the third man apple 2, give the fourth man apple 3.Give the fifth man apple 4. Give the final apple, apple 5, to the sixth man who's standing with man 1. Sorted

or I suppose you could stack three apples vertically and slice down the middle to give six halves to the six men, Then chuck the remaining two apples overboard...

Incidentally, why is a pirate called a pirate?

'cos they arrrrrr!

[Guest]

Bonus points for the ick factor.

[/quote

line up the apples and cut 1/6 off all of them with one slice. Then everyone gets 5/6 and no worries about rate of chew.

[Guest]

Kev-o,mudguts and nik almost correct.But later when u kill someone then the chef go jail and the rest 5 men will die of starvation because they do not know how to cook food.Try another answer.

I've said already not to use the knife to kill someone........