Daily Math Puzzle: 2026-04-02
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2026-04-02
A fearsome dragon's hoard is composed of gleaming gold, shimmering gems, and powerful magical artifacts. Initially, gold accounts for exactly 1/3 of the hoard's total value. One night, a cunning goblin sneaks in and manages to pilfer half of the *current* gold. Shortly after, a benevolent wizard, seeing the diminished hoard, casts a spell that increases the *total remaining value* of the hoard by 20%. After these events, what fraction of the dragon's *new total hoard value* is composed of gold?
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Solution
1/5 — Let the initial total value of the hoard be 'V'.
1. **Initial State:**
* Gold value = (1/3)V
* Other items (gems + artifacts) value = V - (1/3)V = (2/3)V
* Total Hoard Value = V
2. **Goblin's Pilfering:** The goblin steals half of the *current* gold.
* Gold remaining = (1/2) * (1/3)V = (1/6)V
* Other items value remains unchanged = (2/3)V
* Total Hoard Value after goblin = (1/6)V (gold) + (2/3)V (other) = (1/6)V + (4/6)V = (5/6)V
3. **Wizard's Spell:** The wizard increases the *total remaining value* of the hoard by 20%. This means that all components making up this remaining total (both the gold and the other items) are scaled up proportionally.
* New Gold value = (1/6)V * (1 + 0.20) = (1/6)V * 1.2 = (1/6)V * (6/5) = (1/5)V
* New Other items value = (2/3)V * (1 + 0.20) = (2/3)V * 1.2 = (2/3)V * (6/5) = (4/5)V
* New Total Hoard Value = (1/5)V (new gold) + (4/5)V (new other) = V
(Alternatively, the new total can be calculated as the previous total increased by 20%: (5/6)V * 1.2 = (5/6)V * (6/5) = V. Both methods confirm the total returns to its original value V.)
4. **Final Calculation:** We need to find the fraction of the *new total hoard value* that is composed of gold.
* Fraction of gold = (New Gold value) / (New Total Hoard Value) = ((1/5)V) / V = 1/5.
Therefore, 1/5 of the new total hoard's value is composed of gold.
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