Hazrat Ali's Mathematical Brilliance

Imam Ali (AS) was endowed with a quick, sharp, incisive, mathematical mind. He was called "The Gate of Knowledge" by Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Here are a few interesting stories in which Imam Ali's mathematical brilliance revealed itself. 

WHOLE NUMBER AND NOT A FRACTION 

One Day a Non-Muslim Arab came to Imam Ali (AS), thinking that since Imam Ali thinks he is too smart, I'll ask him such a tough question that he won't be able to answer it and I'll have the chance to embarrass him in front of all the Arabs. 

He asked Imam Ali, tell me a number, that if we divide it by any number from 1-10 the answer will always come in the form of a whole number and not as a fraction? 

Imam Ali (AS) looked back at him and said, Take the number of days in a year and multiply it with the number of days in a week and you will have your answer.? 

The Non-Muslim Arab got astonished but as he was a Non-Muslim, he still didn't believe Imam Ali (AS). He calculated the answer Imam Ali (AS) gave him. 

To his amazement he came across the following results: 

The number of Days in a Year = 360 (in Arab) 

The Number of Days in a Week = 7 

The product of the two numbers = 2520 

Now? 

2520 ? 1 = 2520 

2520 ? 2 = 1260 

2520 ? 3 = 840 

2520 ? 4 = 630 

2520 ? 5 = 504 

2520 ? 6 = 420 

2520 ? 7 = 360 

2520 ? 8 = 315 

2520 ? 9 = 280 

2520 ? 10= 252 

DIVIDING 17 CAMELS 

A person was about to die, and before dying, he wrote his Will which went as follows: 

?I have 17 Camels, and I have three sons. Divide my Camels in such a way that my eldest son gets half of them, the second one gets 1/3rd of the total and my youngest son gets 1/9th of the total number of Camels.? 

After his death when the relatives read his will they got extremely perplexed and said to each other that how can we divide 17 camels like this. 

So after a long hard thought, they decided that there was only one man in Arabia who could help them:?Imam Ali (AS).? 

So they all came to the door of Imam Ali (AS) and put forward their problem. 

Imam Ali (AS) said,?Ok, I will divide the camels as per the man's will.? 

Imam Ali (AS) said,?I will lend one of my camels to the total which makes it 18 (17+1=18), now lets divide as per his will. 

The eldest son gets 1/2 of 18 = 9 

The second one gets 1/3 of 18 = 6 

The youngest gets 1/9 of 18 = 2 

Now the total number of camels = 17 (9+6+2=17) 

Then Imam Ali (AS) said, Now I will take my Camelback. 

THE FIVE LOAVES OF BREAD (This one is my favorite) 

Zarr Bin Hobeish relates this story: Two travelers sat together on the way to their destination to have a meal. One had five loaves of bread. The other had three. A third traveler was passing by and at the request of the two joined in the meal. 

The travelers cut each of the loaf of bread in three equal parts. Each of the travelers ate eight broken pieces of the loaf. 

At the time of leaving the third traveler took out eight dirhams and gave to the first two men who had offered him the meal, and went away. On receiving the money the two travelers started quarreling as to who should have how much of the money. 

The five-loaf-man demanded five dirhams. The three-loaf-man insisted on dividing the money into two equal parts. 

The dispute was brought to Imam Ali (AS) (the Caliph of the time in Arabia) to be decided. 

Imam Ali (AS) requested the three-loaf-man to accept three dirhams because five-loaf-man has been more than fair to you. The three-loaf-man refused and said that he would take only four dirhams. At this Imam Ali (AS) replied,?You can have only one dirham.? You had eight loaves between yourselves. Each loaf was broken into three parts. Therefore, you had 24 equal parts. Your three loaves made nine parts out of which you have eaten eight portions, leaving just one to the third traveler. Your friend had five loaves which divided into three made fifteen pieces. He ate eight pieces and gave seven pieces to the guest. As such the guest shared one part from your loaves and seven from those of your friend. So you should get one dirham and your friend should receive seven dirhams.