Why is a dime smarter than a nickel?

Answer 1

The information given below is very interesting but it doesn't answer this question, which is a neat little riddle...

More information about dimes and nickels

It used to be that coins were made in an alloy close to their value. Before the nickel was introduced in 1866, the US used a small coin called a "Half Dime" which was thinner and smaller than a dime and it was struck in silver. Due to pressure from the nickel lobby, the US eventually started minting several denominations in nickel, the three cent piece in 1865 (replacing the tiny silver three cent piece) and also introducing nickel into the small cents (the Flying Eagles and the early Indian Heads) . The nickel was larger because nickel was much less expensive than silver and so you'd need a larger coin to get about the same value as the half dime. The half dime continued to circulate with the nickel until 1873 when the half-dime was discontinued.

And more ...

The joke is (drum roll) that a dime has twice as much "cents" (ba-DING!)