The cost of 17 pencils is `Rs 59 (1/2)`. Find the cost of each pencil.

Answer

To find the cost of each pencil when the total cost of 17 pencils is Rs 59 (1/2), we can follow these steps:

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Convert the Mixed Fraction to an Improper Fraction:**
- The total cost is given as Rs 59 (1/2).
- To convert this mixed number to an improper fraction, we multiply the whole number (59) by the denominator (2) and then add the numerator (1).
- Calculation:
\[ 59 \times 2 + 1 = 118 + 1 = 119 \]
- Therefore, Rs 59 (1/2) can be expressed as:
\[ \frac{119}{2} \]

2. **Set Up the Division:**
- To find the cost of each pencil, we need to divide the total cost by the number of pencils.
- This means we need to calculate:
\[ \text{Cost of each pencil} = \frac{119/2}{17} \]

3. **Convert Division to Multiplication:**
- Dividing by a number is the same as multiplying by its reciprocal. The reciprocal of 17 is \(\frac{1}{17}\).
- Therefore, we can rewrite the division as:
\[ \frac{119}{2} \times \frac{1}{17} \]

4. **Multiply the Fractions:**
- Now we multiply the numerators and the denominators:
\[ \frac{119 \times 1}{2 \times 17} = \frac{119}{34} \]

5. **Simplify the Fraction:**
- We can simplify \(\frac{119}{34}\) if possible. In this case, it is already in its simplest form.

6. **Convert to Decimal (if needed):**
- To express the cost in decimal form, we can perform the division:
\[ 119 \div 34 \approx 3.5 \]
- Therefore, the cost of each pencil is:
\[ \frac{119}{34} \text{ or } 3.5 \text{ Rs} \]

### Final Answer:
The cost of each pencil is Rs \( \frac{119}{34} \) or Rs 3.5.