The 37th pearl (from For all Practical Purposes, by COMAP, 2003, W. H. Freeman) Three friends buy a bag guaranteed to contain at least 30 high quality pearls at an auction. Abe contributes $5900, Beth's contribution is $7600, and Charles contributes $1400.
(a) When they get home they pour 36 pearls on the kitchen table. They decide to use Hamilton's method to apportion the pearls. How many pearls do they each get?
(b) Charles notices the bag is not empty! Another pearl comes out. What happens when they recalculate the apportionment (using Hamilton's method)? What does Charles say?
(c) Suppose the friends had been using Jefferson's method rather than Hamilton's method. How would the resolution of the story differ?