Loaves and Bishops

A certain bishop ordered that 12 loaves be divided among his clergy.  He ordered that each priest should receive 2 loaves, each deacon one half, and each reader a quarter of a loaf.  There were as many clergy as loaves.  How many priests, deacons, and readers must there be?

Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes (Problems to Sharpen the Young), Alcuin of York, c. 800 CE

Click here to reveal the answer