The grocer was delayed half a minute and the draper eight minutes and a
half (seventeen times as long as the grocer), making together nine
minutes. Now, the grocer took twenty-four minutes to weigh out the
sugar, and, with the half-minute delay, spent 24 min. 30 sec. over the
task; but the draper had only to make _forty-seven_ cuts to divide the
roll of cloth, containing forty-eight yards, into yard pieces! This took
him 15 min. 40 sec., and when we add the eight minutes and a half delay
we get 24 min. 10 sec., from which it is clear that the draper won the
race by twenty seconds. The majority of solvers make forty-eight cuts to
divide the roll into forty-eight pieces!