The Abbot's 204 Eggs
An abbot sends 204 eggs to be shared equally among his monastery's 12 monks — 5 priests, 4 deacons, and 3 readers. His steward first works out exactly how many eggs go to the priests as a group, how many to the deacons as a group, and how many to the readers as a group. How many eggs does each individual monk end up with?
Reveal the answer
17 eggs each. 204 ÷ 12 = 17, and since 17 × 5 = 85, 17 × 4 = 68 and 17 × 3 = 51, the priests, deacons and readers simply receive that same equal share split by rank. It's from Alcuin of York's Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes (c. 800 CE) — one of the collection's simplest problems, dressed up to look harder than plain division.