Gem 17: The Bank Teller's Predicament Puzzle

	The Bank Teller's Predicament Puzzle
	It was a strange lapse on the part of the bank teller. Evidently he  misread the check, for he handed out the amount of the dollars in cents, and the amount of the cents in dollars. When the error was pointed out to him he became flustered, made an absurd arithmetical mistake, and handed out a dollar, a dime, and a cent more. But the customer declared that he was still short of his due. The teller pulled himself together, doubled the total amount he had already given to the customer, and so precisely settled the transaction to the latter’s satisfaction.    What was the amount of the check? Note: Here we must solve an equation where we require positive integer solutions. This requirement places the problem in a large and famous Class of problems known as Diophantine equations named for third century Greek mathematician Diophantus. The concept of zero was not invented yet in the third century.

Click here to see Moshe Shweiger's solution...

If you would like to comment on this article,
simply email MosheShweiger@gmail.com.

Digital Photographs and Mathematics Copyright 2023, Moshe Shweiger, all rights reserved.