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Where Is Africa Going Wrong?
Ideas, Not Money, Alleviate Poverty
By Phillip Emeagwali - November 1, 2006
One day, Al-Khwarizmi was riding a camel laden down with algebraic manuscripts to the holy city of Mecca. He saw three young men crying at an oasis.
"My children, why are you crying? he enquired.
"Our father, upon his death, instructed us to divide his 17 camels as follows:
To my oldest son I leave half of my camels, my second son shall have one-third of my camels, and my youngest son is to have one-ninth of my camels."
"What, then, is your problem?" Al-Khwarizmi asked.
"We have been to school and learned that 17 is a prime number that is, divisible only by one and itself and cannot be divided by two or three or nine. Since we love our camels, we cannot divide them exactly, they answered.
Al-Khwarizmi thought for a while and asked, "Will it help if I offer my camel and make the total 18?"
"No, no, no," they cried.
"You are on your way to Mecca, and you need your camel."
"Go ahead, have my camel, and divide the 18 camels amongst yourselves," he said, smiling.
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