Problems from Another Time

Individual problems from throughout mathematics history, as well as articles that include problem sets for students.

Suppose a ladder 60 feet long is placed in a street so as to reach a window 37 feet above the ground on one side of the street...
A man agreed to pay for 13 valuable houses worth $5000 each, what the last would amount to, reckoning 7 cents for the first, 4 times 7 cents for the second, and so on, increasing the price 4 times on each to the last. A father left$20,000 to be divided among his four sons ages 6, 8, 10, and 12 years respectively so that each share placed at 4 1/2 compounded interest should amount to the same value when its possessor becomes the age 21.
Twenty-three weary travelers entered a delightful forest. There they found 63 numerically equal piles of plantain fruit.
A certain bishop ordered that 12 loaves be divided among his clergy.
If 80 dollars worth of provisions will serve 20 men for 25 days, what number of men will the same amount of provisions serve for 10 days?
Two persons sat down to play for a certain sum of money; and agree that the first who gets three games shall be the winner. After a few games they resolve to divide the stakes. How much should each person receive?
How a translation of Peano's counterexample to the 'theorem' that a zero Wronskian implies linear dependence can help your differential equations students
Given the frustum of a circular cone with height h.
A certain slave fled from Milan to Naples going 1/10 of the whole journey each day. At the beginning of the third day, his master sent a slave after him and this slave went 1/7 of the whole journey each day.