The driver frets a little and tells them, "Sahab! If only four of you were to be there I would charge you just the meter rate, but then since seven of you would be there, you have to give me Rs.10/- more."
The
Sardars agree and decide to take the taxi. The taxi driver takes them
to Rashtrapati Bhavan. The meter shows Rs. 18/-, so the taxi driver
says, "You have to pay me Rs. 28/-"
Now, the Sardars have to share the cost
among themselves and so they decide to divide the total (Rs. 28/-) by
the number of people, i.e.7.
This is how they do the calculation to
arrive at the
answer:
____
7 | 28 | 13 ( 7
x 1 = 7, 7 x 3 = 21).
7
--
21
21
--
0
--
The driver (naturally) is exceedingly
happy upon receiving Rs. 13/- from each of the Sardars. He thanks them
profusely and the feeling of exultant happiness is writtern on his
face as he leaves them and proceeds his way.
Seeing this, the Sardars feel that they
may have made a mistake. They decide to ask Zail Singh about it. After
all, the fellow was the President of the nation! After all the initial
formalities are completed, they ask Zail Singh to check their
calculation of the taxi fare. Zail Singh ponders over the calculations
and finally says,"See,I am not good at division. The process just
boggles me but addition is
something I am an expert at. Let us add
all the amounts you guys gave to the taxi driver and check the result.
This is how I do for those tax forms I
get very often. The process is slow but is sure." The other
sardars nod their heads(?) in appreciation.
The President writes as shown below and
also explains as he writes on:
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
--
28
i.e. 3+3+3+3+3+3+3= 21 and
21+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=28 so this checks out. He then says, "Yes, it's
correct. But I can also call my close friend and Finance man
Manmohan Singh. It is always better that he rechecks it. After all, he
is a Finance man,you know!"
Manmohan Singh arrives, and when told of
the problem,he replies that he doesn't think it is a bad deal but
says, "No problem! I will verify it via mathematical computation.
I'll verify it with multiplication.
That is the best technique for this, you
see!"
While others watch in admiration,
Manmohan Singh goes on to write as shown:
13
x7
---
21 (3x7)
7 (1x7)
--
28
--
This checks out as well.
Then he says, "This is really fine.
There should be no problem, President Sahab. After all, it is correct
in all the methods"