main+archives

toc =**July**=

Sam and Max run a 100 meter race. Sam wins by five yards. To make it sporting, he starts 5 yards behind the original start line in the second race. Assuming both runners run at the same speed, who wins the second race? The challenge is to solve this problem without doing any algebra.
 * July 27th 2007**

How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that you would think that nothing is wrong with it at all, and, in fact, nothing is. But it is unusual. Why? If you look at it, study it and think about it, you may find out, but I am not going to assist you in any way. You must do it without coaching. No doubt, if you work at it for long, it will dawn on you. Who knows? Go to work and try your skill. Par is about half an hour. So jump to it and try your skill at figuring it out. Good luck --don't blow your cool.
 * July 18th 2007**

You are a landscape specialist, and have been asked to design a garden for a math professor. He wants four trees that are all equidistant from each other. How do you place the trees?
 * July 9th 2007**

You have 9 dots arranged like a rectangle: . . . . . . . . . Without lifting your pen, draw four lines that cross all 9 dots.
 * July 2nd 2007**

=June=

In a certain town lived a miller, his daughter, and the evil mayor. The miller was in debt to the mayor, and the mayor had his eye on the miller’s daughter. The mayor made a proposition: he would place a black stone and a white stone in a bag, and the miller’s daughter would pick one out in front of the whole village. If she drew the white stone, the mayor would forgive the miller’s debt. If she drew the black stone, the mayor would marry the miller’s daughter and take the mill. The miller had no choice but to agree. The miller’s daughter has no reason to trust the mayor, and believes that he will place two black stones in the bag. How can she get out of marrying the mayor and save the mill?
 * June 25th 2007**

Why does this work?
 * June 18th 2007**

Speaker: "Brothers and Sisters, I have none. But this man's Father is my Father's son." Who is the speaker talking about?
 * June 11th 2007**

A farmer has four straight pieces of fencing: 1, 2, 3, and 4 metres in length. What is the maximum area he can enclose by connecting the pieces? Assume the land is flat.
 * June 4th 2007**

=May=

A [|Dudney] problem: A gentleman who recently died left the sum of £8,000 to be divided among his widow, five sons, and four daughters. He directed that every son should receive three times as much as a daughter, and that every daughter should have twice as much as their mother. What was the widow's share?
 * May 28th 2007**

"Dad, where had you been?" asked Bill "I had been to the attic, my son," replied Dad. "And do you know what I saw there? There was a big web with 25 spiders and flies on it." "How many spiders were there?" asked the little boy with curiosity. "Well, there were a total of 168 legs on the web," answered Dad with a smile. "Now you can find out how many spiders were there by yourself. Can't you?" Can you help the little boy find out how many spiders were on the web in the attic?
 * May 21th 2007**

There are four people on one side of a bridge in the middle of the night. They only have one torch between them and the all have to get across the bridge. However, only a maximum of two people may cross at one time, and the torch must be always in the possession of one of the people crossing the bridge. All the people walk at different speeds, but any pair crossing must walk at the slowest of the two speeds. The people's speeds are as follows: Person B takes 2 minutes to cross Person C takes 5 minutes to cross Person D takes 10 minutes to cross** How fast can all four get across the bridge with the constraints mentioned?
 * May 14th 2007**
 * Person A takes 1 minute to cross

I have some pencils and some jars. If I put 4 pencils into each jar I will have one jar left over. If I put 3 pencils into each jar I will have one pencil left over. How many pencils and how many jars?
 * May 7th 2007**

=April=

There are 10 trees spaced out equally along my street with one at each end. If I run at a steady speed from one end of the street, I can reach the 8th tree in just 8 seconds. How long would it take me to run down the whole street at the same pace?
 * April 30rd 2007**

If the difference of two numbers is 8 and their product is 18, what is the sum of their squares?
 * April 23rd 2007**

Use four 9's to make 20
 * April 16th 2007**

A bank customer had £100 in his account. He then made 6 withdrawals, totaling £100. He kept a record of these withdrawals, and the balance remaining in the account, as follows: Why are the two totals not the same?
 * April 2nd**
 * Withdrawals || Balance left ||
 * £50 || £50 ||
 * £25 || £25 ||
 * £10 || £15 ||
 * £8 || £7 ||
 * £5 || £2 ||
 * £2 || £0 ||
 * **£100** || **£99** ||
 * **£100** || **£99** ||
 * **£100** || **£99** ||
 * **£100** || **£99** ||

=March=

Make the letter 'F' from the pieces of puzzle
 * March 26th**

Decided to ride my bike through the park. On reaching the park, I saw that there were a total of 15 bicycles and tricycles. If the total number of wheels was 38, how many tricycles were there?
 * March 19th**

can you fit the puzzle together to make an 8x8 chessboard?
 * March 12th**