Allright. If you've come this far, you deserve the goods.
Here they are....

There's more than one thing you can figure before you determine the length of the banana. They are:

• The monkey's mother is eighteen years old.
• The monkey is twelve years old, and weighs eighteen ounces.
• The rope weighs four pounds, and is twelve feet long.

And, here's the way to solve it, sent in by another valued visitor!

Subject:your riddle
Date:Sat, 07 Dec 1996 15:26:55 -0800
From:"Edward A. Weinstein"
To:brianhalli@mail.sisna.com

I solved it and it is indeed 5 3/4 inches.
And yes, I did figure it out before I looked at the answer on the page.
The trick is to make a system of equations for the monkeys' ages.

X=monkey
Y=Monkey's mother

>From the information in the problem:
X+Y=30
Y=(1/2)3(1/2)4(2)1/3(3)1/4(X) or 1.5X

The second equation is the toughest part of the problem. Look at the information given and recognize that the point of reference at the end of the convoluted mess is the actual age of the monkey (X) and work your way backwards from there.

So we then substitute 1.5X for Y and get:
X+1.5X=30
resulting in 12 and 18

The monkey and the weight weigh 18 ounces and the rope weighs 4 pounds (64 ounces) as it is 12 feet long (equal to the weight of the monkey).

It is important at this point to use standard measures to solve the rest of this; that is to say, even though the weight of the rope is given in pounds use ounces for EVERYTHING or you won't get the right numbers out.

If the weight of the Banana (X) and half the weight of the monkey (9) are equal to 1/4 the weight of the rope (64) plus the weight (18), then the equation is:
9+x=1/4(64+18)
or x=11.5

The banana is 11.5 ounces at 2 ounces per inch. Thus, 5 3/4 inches.

Feel free to post this if you'd like.
Ed

Thanks, Ed, for reminding us just how stupid we are. You are the exception to the rule! Good work!

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