| First. | Second. | Third. | |
| 12 | 24 | 36 | |
| A | B | C | 23 |
| A | C | B | 24 |
| B | A | C | 25 |
| C | A | B | 27 |
| B | C | A | 28 |
| C | B | A | 29 |
This table shows that if the sum be 25, for example, the 1st person must have chosen B, the 2d A, and the 3d C; or if it be 28, the 1st must have chosen B, the 2d C, and the 3d A.
ANOTHER METHOD.
Three things having been divided between three persons, you are to determine the holder of each.
Call the persons in your own mind 1st, 2d, 3d.
Give to the 1st a card on which you have written the number 12; to the 2d the number 24; to the 3d 36.
The three things you must denote as A, E, I.
To simplify it you may have three cards with a name upon each, of which the initial letters are A, E, I, as Anna, Emma, Isabel.
Request your friends to divide between them the three articles, and then to add together certain parts of the numbers on their cards, as follows:
Whoever has A must supply one half of the number on his card;