Overseas Mail

quote:

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We were visiting the island of Kimbu and had come to the post-office to send some parcels to friends at home. The island's currency is the pim, and the postmaster told us that he had only stamps for five different face-values, as these had to be used up before the new issue of stamps was introduced.

These stamps were black, red, green, violet and yellow, in descending order of values, the black being the highest and the yellow the lowest.

One parcel required stamps to the value of 100 pims and we were handed 9 stamps, 5 black, one green and 3 violet. The other two parcels required 50 pims' worth each, and for these we were given two different sets of 9 stamps. One consisted of 1 black and 2 each of the other colours, and the other set contained 5 green and 1 each of the others.

What would have been the smallest number of stamps needed for a 50 pim parcel, and of which colours?

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I can't make it any less than five - 2 black, 1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow ?

That's what I also get. 2 black (2*18), 1 red (9), 1 green (4) and 1 yellow (1).

yep, both answers are spot on

[ testing colours ]