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A certain superstitious farmer, for members of such planters clubs seem to be perennially omen-ounded protagonists in these problems, decided to set up a saving scheme for his two children when his second child was born with the same birthday as the first one. What he did was, on the second child’s first birthday -- that is, a year later -- he deposited a sum of money equal to the product of the two children’s ages in the bank. Then each subsequent anniversary he increased the deposited amount equal to the product of the two kids’ ages.
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Dear
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(The Endgame was really an ancient one but it’s surprising how many people still don’t get why it doesn’t work. And since a whole new generation’s got hooked on it again -- as they always do -- this time this one was for them. Meaning old-timers needed to stay out. “Three friends went to eat food in a hotel. After the meal, the waiter bought them the bill. The amount was Dhs 75. So they decided to pay Dhs 25 each. The manager decided to give them Dhs 5 discount. As they could not divide five between the three of them he gave Dh 1 to each of them and kept Dhs 2 in his pocket. Now each of the three friends paid Dhs.24 each, so the sum would be: 24 x 3 = 72 plus the Dhs 2 in the manager’s pocket = 74. But they actually paid Dhs 75. Where did the Dh 1 go? -- MS)
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The simplest possible explanation is as follows. The original bill: Dh 75, discount: Dh 5. Hence shopkeeper got Dh 70 plus Dh 2 that he kept in his pocket, in all Dh 72 which is equal to Dh 24*3. Adding Dh 2 further to this Dh 72 makes no sense at all for it does not give any meaningful figure other than coming close to Dh 75. Leena Albuquerque, jolieleena@hotmail.com The-Last-Straw-Dept: I would like to share with you an incident in history when modern devices for calculation were not available. About 1400 years back; Ali (s a), who is Prophet Mohammed's (PBUH) cousin and successor, was approached by the three sons of a deceased person. Their father had left 17 camels for them to be shared as follows: 1/2 of the camels for the eldest; 1/3 of them for the middle one and 1/9 of them for the youngest. The sons were in a dilemma because 17 camels cannot be divided thus; but the sons were sure that Ali (s a) would help them out. And sure enough Ali (s a) , as he was known for his wisdom, helped them out thus: He added one of his camels to the 17; making the total 18. He then gave nine camels to the eldest (1/2), six camels to the second son (1/3) and two camels to the youngest (1/9). Thus he gave away 17 camels and retained his own one camel. This way he gave, in fact, more than they deserved. (Continued in . . . |
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Alpha’s-The-Bet-Dept:
(The problem was: “(1) Which number is next in the series: 10, 4, 3, 11, 15 . . . (a) 14; (b) 1; (c) 17; (d) 12. (2) What are the next two numbers in the series: 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31 . . . . (3) Which number completes the series: 4, 1, 2 . . . (a) 6; (b) 10; (c) 7; (d) 8.” -- MS)
(1) Series: 10, 4, 3, 11, 15 . . . Answer: (a) 14. Logic: The next number in the series has one alphabet more than its previous number, when all the numbers are written in words. To make the number more unique, we can append an additional and compatible criteria: the next number should have same or more number of vowels. Since by first criteria a number like 'thirteen' will also qualify. (2) Series: 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31 . . . Answer: 32. Logic: All the numbers with 'i' in their word-representation. (3) Series: 4, 1, 2 . . . Answer: (d) 8. Logic: The numbers which have only one '1' in their 4-bit binary representation.
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Endgames
. . . Continued from DEAR MS,) Now, I would like to submit this puzzle for our Mindsport champs. There are 10 barrels filled with gold coins, all looking alike; but not really so! While nine of the barrels contain one-gram coins, one barrel is full of two-gram coins. You have to identify the barrel containing the two-gram coins. The only respite is a digital weighing scale, which can be used only once.
(Submitted by Saifuddin Khomosi, Dubai, saif_sfk@hotmail.com)
