Camel Counting

[iago]

An old Arabian is about to die.  He tells his three sons he will leave them his camels.

To the eldest son, he leaves 1/2 of them. 
To his second, he leaves 1/3 of them.
To his youngest, he leaves 1/9. 

When he died, they discovered that he had 17 camels, and they couldn't think of an even way to divide them without killing any of them. 

Just then, an old friend of their fathers came riding along on his camel.  They explained the problem to him, and he thought of a way to divide the camels just as the father wished. 

How?

[Sidoh]

Hmm, I'm guessing the camel the other guy rode up on was one of their father's camels?

He gives the sons his camel, so now there are 18 camels to take from.  Giving the numbers the father had instructed the sons to divide his camels by, you get:

(18 * (1 / 2)) + (18 * (1 / 3)) + (18 * (1 / 9)) = 17

The first son gets 18 * (1 / 2) = 9 camels.

The second son gets 18 * (1 / 3) = 6 camels.

The third son gets 18 * (1 / 9) = 2 camels.

Since when added, there are only 17 camels remaining, the father's old friend gets his camel back.

[iago]

It wasn't necessarely one of the father's camels, since he got it back anyway, but your answer is correct.