# Help me with this really difficult puzzle

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-this-really-difficult-puzzle/336705>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 22, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-this-really-difficult-puzzle/336705 "2005-12-22T00:07:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-this-really-difficult-puzzle/336705/21 "2005-12-22T22:06:06Z")

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> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#):
>
> You’re correct: there’s only one value for n, whereas **younggun’s** figures give two different values (96 and 24).
> 
> According to my spoilered answer, which is from the answer section of the book, the Smiths get the most, **flight** , with the Browns getting the least and the Joneses getting the middle amount.
> 
> Daniel

Yeah, I also looked at the problem in the book (wasn’t able to google the solution) and it seems that the problem is just badly worded. I think the only way to figure out the last names is to make the assumption that the biological son is going to inherit the most.

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**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-this-really-difficult-puzzle/336705/22 "2005-12-22T22:07:37Z")

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The answer you gave matches what I was thinking, though Eliza & Susan could be swapped (and still no reason for why Smith gets the most).

The other possible solution - following from Bi = 2116, gives

Ja/Ja/El/Su 4  
Sa 3364  
To 6724  
Bi 2116  
Ma 5476  
Ne 8836  
El/Su/Ja/Ja 9409  
Su/El/Su/El 12769  
Ha 16129

where the slashes indicate a possible swap.

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-this-really-difficult-puzzle/336705/23 "2005-12-22T22:12:02Z")

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> [@flight](#):
>
> Yeah, I also looked at the problem in the book (wasn’t able to google the solution) and it seems that the problem is just badly worded. I think the only way to figure out the last names is to make the assumption that the biological son is going to inherit the most.

What a horrible solution that wil be if that’s the answer! ☹ But you may well be right.

**panamajack** , your solution, with the swaps, looks somewhat like what I ended up with. I eventually found a way of arranging the nine values such that I couldn’t see where any rules were broken by it and stopped there, but I was pretty sure there would be alternate arrangements.

I’ll go home tonight and look at my notes to see if the solution in the back of the book matches what I came up with. If not, it’d be interesting to try to figure out what distinguishes one from the others.

Thanks, folks, for looking at this with me, and keep on offering your thoughts on it! This puzzle literally made me lose sleep for a couple of nights, as I’d go to bed, not be able to stop thinking about it, and get back up and work on it some more.

Daniel

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