Three people ate eight cakes, of which York brought three, Tom brought five, and one * * * was eight. York ate 1/3 of it, that is, 8/3 pieces, and passers-by ate 3-8/3 of the cake brought by York =1/3; Tom also ate 8/3, and passers-by ate 5-8/3=7/3 of the cake he brought. In this way, among 8/3 cakes eaten by passers-by, there are13 York and 7/3 Tom. Among the cakes eaten by passers-by, Tom belongs to York seven times. Therefore, for these eight gold coins, the fair division is: York gets 1 gold coins, and Tom gets 7 gold coins.

In this story, we see that the "fair" division of gold coins follows the principle that income equals one's own contribution.