I was recently given this puzzle and I thought I would share it with everyone else. So the puzzle starts...
There's a pharaoh who wants to build a huge pyramid to compensate for his lack of self confidence. He hires a stonemason to build his pyramid in 7 days and agrees to pay the mason one gold bar upon completion for his work.
The stonemason doesn't like the pharaoh very much nor does he trust him. So, he demands that the pharaoh pay him at the end of every day an equivalent fraction of the gold bar as the number of days that he worked. That is, after the first day of work, the pharaoh must pay him 1/7 of the gold bar, 2/7 at the end of the 2nd day, 3/7 on the 3rd, etc until the end of the 7th day where he will receive his full payment of the gold bar. The kicker is the pharaoh may only make two cuts on the gold bar. Reluctantly, the pharaoh agrees to these terms.
The question is "How does the pharaoh do it?"
As with a lot of puzzles, it helps to talk it through so feel free to post a comment or question. :)
I'll post the answer later for everyone or I can answer it for myself...depending if anyone else is reading this.
Hint: There's only one way to pay him the first day.