Here is another one from ancient India. People in Middle East and Far East seem to be fond of puzzles, many of which are mathematical in nature. If kids are exposed to such puzzles from the childhood, they probably develop a liking for mathematics. I suppose that would explain why people from there excel in math and sciences.
In ancient India, a king wanted to accomplish some great task (which one, does not concern us). The reward for whoever completed the task was gold coins equal to the weight of king’s favorite elephant.
Well, a man did accomplish the task and was eligible for the reward. But there was a problem. How does one weigh an elephant? The king didn’t have a big enough scale whereby he could put the elephant on one side and balance the other side with gold coins. It would take a long time to build such a scale. Besides, it would be expensive.
He described the difficulty to the reward winner. The winner said “Your Majesty, I am not a greedy or fussy man. Give me gold coins approximately equal to the weight of elephant and I will be satisfied.
Which was something. But still question remains, what is the simplest way to measure out gold coins approximately equal to the weight of an elephant (there is no scale available).
Possibly something based upon water displacement????