Old Mr Micawber (of “income £20 0s 0d, expenditure £19 19s 6d, result happiness” fame) had a nephew. He tended to do rather better than his uncle and, for several years, he held a party to distribute all his profits for that year to the most needy of his friends. As a result, he had a lot of needy friends, but he could never invite more than one hundred of them on account of the fire regulations.
He would take his profits for the year and then invite as many friends as he could, while still giving each a whole number of shillings (but not more than £5 to each as that might have encouraged alcoholism).
Of course, some years he couldn’t manage it exactly (for instance, if he had made profits which were, in shillings, a prime number) but, with a little creative accounting, he could always adjust his profits up or down by just one shilling and still hold his party.
One year, however, he found that even this wouldn’t work, so he treated it as a Sign that he was being too generous – and kept the lot for himself. Oddly enough, this was his worst year ever, with profits of less than his uncle’s reputed income.
What were his profits for that year?
(note for the very young - £1 was equal to 20shillings)
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Old Mr Micawber (of “income £20 0s 0d, expenditure £19 19s 6d, result happiness” fame) had a nephew. He tended to do rather better than his uncle and, for several years, he held a party to distribute all his profits for that year to the most needy of his friends. As a result, he had a lot of needy friends, but he could never invite more than one hundred of them on account of the fire regulations.
He would take his profits for the year and then invite as many friends as he could, while still giving each a whole number of shillings (but not more than £5 to each as that might have encouraged alcoholism).
Of course, some years he couldn’t manage it exactly (for instance, if he had made profits which were, in shillings, a prime number) but, with a little creative accounting, he could always adjust his profits up or down by just one shilling and still hold his party.
One year, however, he found that even this wouldn’t work, so he treated it as a Sign that he was being too generous – and kept the lot for himself. Oddly enough, this was his worst year ever, with profits of less than his uncle’s reputed income.
What were his profits for that year?
(note for the very young - £1 was equal to 20shillings)
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