Dudeney 谜题 2

When the big flaming placards were exhibited at the little provincial railway station, announcing that the Great —— Company would run cheap excursion trains to London for the Christmas holidays, the inhabitants of Mudley-cum-Turmits were in quite a flutter of excitement. Half an hour before the train came in the little booking office was crowded with country passengers, all bent on visiting their friends in the great Metropolis. The booking clerk was unaccustomed to dealing with crowds of such a dimension, and he told me afterwards, while wiping his manly brow, that what caused him so much trouble was the fact that these rustics paid their fares in such a lot of small money. He said that he had enough farthings to supply a West End draper with change for a week, and a sufficient number of threepenny pieces for the congregations of three parish churches. "That excursion fare," said he, "is nineteen shillings and ninepence, and I should like to know in just how many different ways it is possible for such an amount to be paid in the current coin of this realm." Here, then, is a puzzle: In how many different ways may nineteen shillings and ninepence be paid in our current coin? Remember that the fourpenny-piece is not now current.

当小小的省级火车站挂出巨大的火焰标语牌，宣布伟大的公司将在圣诞节假期开办前往伦敦的廉价游览列车时，马德利兼特米茨的居民们兴奋不已。火车开站前半小时，小小的售票处挤满了乡下旅客，全都一心要拜访大都市的朋友。售票员不习惯与如此大规模的人群打交道，事后他一边擦着男子气概的额头一边告诉我，给他带来这么多麻烦的是这些乡巴佬付车费的钱这么少。他说他有足够的钱来为伦敦西区的布商提供一周的零钱，还有足够数量的三便士硬币供三个教区教堂的会众使用。 “这次旅行的费用，”他说，“是十九先令九便士，我想知道有多少种不同的方式可以用这个国家的现行硬币支付这笔钱。”那么，这里有一个难题：用我们现在的硬币可以用多少种不同的方式支付十九先令和九便士？请记住，四便士硬币现在已不再流行。