“eg

Published by SevenOaks

an imprint of the Carlton Publishing Group

20 Mortimer Street
London WIT 3JW

Copyright © 2009 Carlton Books Limited

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it may not be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the publisher’s prior consent.

ISBN 978-1-86200-738-3

Printed in China

0987654321
 ee
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on £
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200 enigmas that have challenged mankind, pe eh: eee

from the dawn of timeto the present day =|

_ SEVENOAKS
 ie Luo River Scroll
" Buridan’s Ass Ses 40. 224.
Hi Shi’S‘Third Paradox 41 225e
The Zero Proof °ae: ig) AD
Crocodile *Tearsir” 43°, 226
The [addee £ Horus pe 44° 226°
The Sieve of ‘Eratosthenes 45 227 :
“Rowotnatc
ieA =i
Fractional Issue 2ue. “
ure ex
mloy
7
213
3213
Archimedes”"Revenge
The Nine Chapters ©
5
: ee See
: ‘~ Strong Grain oe : @ 18-214" the Cister Problem | Pe ted ac
"Progressive Loavesas 19 214 Dog and Hare se a Wf tet
“Wl Dates Pies ae SLs Sak Dehainy Pe Chickens 2 : 3p eae
The Rule of three: 3 Ae Ue oh 21 215 Legand Thigh || ES
-, ProgressiveShares P p822 B1Ge Men BuyaHoe
i ” Squaring the Circle . Pe 93r 216 Greed seats
| lfeeGqatare [rial °°“ oye 3 242 17 ‘
Whe Sumerian Riddle
i; Ramesses’ Star
_|hs The Riddle of the Sphinx
The Quiet One
Visitors
Cretans SroubleWith cineee
- Zeno’s Dichotomy =. Snail and theWell a <<
- Zeno’s Arrow ‘ in’s Camel. gay
in’s ge COR. ame
--Zeno’s Stadium ¥ ers and Sisters , a 236°
ae
*.
and the Tortoise , lask 5 64 237.
Zhe ‘ “ThaatasteeMerchant
22 se 65 237
36 see - Alcuin’s Graiin ees 238
"The Shoot 37 ~The Hundred Steps C7238
"The Nursery 38 he ~_Alouin’ Riddle ae 68 239

te aes es il
vi
Pe eee

ms Mhaties Wee Meares Si. aL Re ay te ‘

‘ he Josephus Problem
‘The Explorer’ s Problem The Blind Abbot reas)
_ Is
Monkey Nuts The Captive Queen — :
_ The Book of Precious Things A Spiral Walk ¢9e rapa o
A Medieval Riddle Eight Queens: ) + aeaa ‘ee108 2 e
_ The Mariner The Dinner Party ae $3.
ais
_ The Memory Wheel The Monkey.and tthe Pulley% <gt.
4g 259.
Jia Xian’s Triangle Kirkman’s Schoolgirls wee at As 9°
The Old One . The Counterfeit Bill” = mesee Me
The Trouble With Rabbits The Travelling Salesman
The Ring Game — Ethiopian Mathematics
ae“
_ The Well ; Cantor’s Infinities see or3 Pieg
_ Tartaglia’s Wine ma;
yo
to
Nobody ?.t ows aes
~ Topsy-Turvy yy Tesseract a 1s Zé
_ The Wanderer - = Bertrand’s Box. ing
-TheHound Nothing Lost. ere * ‘
_Regiomontanus’ Angle ig Hilbert’s Hotel
TheProblem of Points > Wine/Water Problem 4 op
The Barber Paradox 122,264 © jf
Mamma’s Age By * 23. 264203a
249 Papa's Problent > ae? 124 265 Ey :
249 Kite Problem 125.264 .
2 bere _7 The Barrelof Beer 126°266-
1€ CCentury Puzzle | 127 265 |ie
e Labourer’s Puzzle 128 266 &
1 u e s 129 267%

P rot Puzzle | 130 267 i}

251 Pier
962 pe “The FourSevens rs yp peeh Sol. Paha.
“TheNowton—Pepys Proleat .
_ Sunday 3 © ae tose Gti 2 Ms Gubbins’in the Fog 132 926
‘The Tourist~ Mee 98° a253mie Basket of Potatoes 133 268
The Bridges of Konigsberg ; ee 553°ine Lockers 134
Walking the Walk Pe 9 Q*IS4---/ Odd" Multiplication
The Tethered Goat | «101 254. Curious Numbers
Buffon’s Needle e 1G a2 Changing Places
The Thunderer 103,avn _ The Nine Counters
 c
1g e
SOont
- . < he, ‘Z . mn
at . Mee
“4 rs ae3 : 4 fg mers
: aor 2 *
s Ta SC re eres on A
= ' te ents east
3 bik os < ~ Bo ahd ro Ss cs F
es * ze: Se =
Rive

"The Spot on theiblea _ a140 271, Berry'sParadox

Catching the Thief ie ae P44] 2A Crossword ee
“What Was the Tinie? ag 142 272 The Horse Paradox * ete ps) ‘
e Thirty Aree Pearls:aro " 143: 272 Washing Day— fee 1? 289.
re Villages e.Pi tdy 273) Rape deound cheeachs’ ©) 180: 2Rg
e ve 145 273 — Schrédinger’s Cat 5 181 290
ve 146 273 Hempel’sRavens 182 290
147 274 TwoTrains 183: 291i ¢
148 Sy a The Unexpected Hanging 184 29%" 2
ae 149 275 The Sultan’s Dowry 185.2914
ndMissLofty =———:150 275 Fermi’s Paradox 186 292
a t Ashore eo 151 2/6 >The Prisoner's Dilemma 187%: 292. =
“The Bank of Monte Carlo ~ 152 276 Book Stack*' a. 188293, Se
"The St Patrick’s Day Parade igs. FOGSake Ne eae cs: Envelope Probleth == * 189 293, e
fea The Boarding House Pie pm i54 Zig. ~*Postage Stamp Problem%"" 5.50190 294
oe Complications e555,
_ 278". Stable Marrtage Problem —ea3 als91 oo
: The Convent» . - QQuings a Z 2
Old Beacon Tower One
+ Casey’s Cow
Hot Cross Buns x
© Cypher Dispatch Puzzle:

The Golf Puzzle

“ Puzzling Scales
A Legal Problem oe gk Oe
) The Necklace ; 82 ORS
i The Boxer Puzzle :ashi
ne iwokakero “3 ee
The Patrolman’s Puzzle con ioe wae
Turf Puzzle Boe ef8 284 ‘The Si ve ofConway —
Tey “ Rae
| Astronomical Puzzle . Ms 28: iGies Naname
‘Patch Quilt Puzzle 170 285. -Fillomino 206 302
ee: Primitive Railroading Problem “7 I 35 Masyu_ . ees Lace ne 207 302
|The Rogue’s Letter 172 286 Magic Square Matrix — 208 303
as The
oe Game 3 286— ee . 209. 303
 Puzzles are one of the areas of human experience _
that transcend all cultural barriers. Every nation
on Earth has puzzles, and probably has done for ma
as long as humankind has been able to reason. sie
Faced with the unknown, our natural curios ie *
drives us to find some sort of resolution. i an
know that the mystery has been set in front
as a test, the urge to solve it — to prove ourselves
becomes almost unbearable. : ae
% : * ;

Deduction is probably mankind’s single greatest tool. The abilityto i

reason and theorize -
~ to connect cause and effect into a model of
the world— has led us from the early caves to our current society of—
wonders. Without it, there would be no technological progress, no
Syme real pees ofothers, no
r writtenn language... no humanity. Our

rcising
eid ability.
o . 1¢chance to exercise ae‘mental muscles. That is not
iuae1 metaphor;sin many important senses,
s it is a literal description of
the way our minds work. -Push your mind’slimits, and your brainpower
eee will get sttonger, more flexible, faster —fitter. Ignore iit, and it will get
--__- weaker-and flabbier, exactly thesame
s way that a body does. Recent
A Aiea scientific discoveries have shown that the |
brain really does respond to
mental exercise, and solving puzzles can even help to stave off the effects
of diseases like Alzheimer’s? a) See.
.. The parallels between physical and mental exercise run deeper, too.
_ Like physical exercise, mental exercise gives us a sense of achievement,
improves our mood, and can give us a lot of pleasure. Achievement in
}
 se caastalath
ee
Hs hee re garded as
as a hi askilledcompetitive sporfor centuries, with some of
a es “a ‘ AP,ee eae household names. a - eee

ce x i 7: = ricalOverview
0 of Puzzling ¢

cs ces
ae careithe Pati in all corners of thex
es can also
‘be UI in the archaeological records of all the ancient cultures for—
gs which
sa ‘wehavesubstantial remains. Puzzles are aswidespread iin time ag”
aean areein space.
sp The oldest mathematical devices. that we have refound
so far are actually earlier than the oldest true writing we've discovereddae
The devices 5 are
a a set of carvings in the form of the »-called Platonic is
Solids, dated around 2700BC. Each is a three- dimensional shape ma
from a number of identical regular polygonal 2-D.
2 ) shapes.‘There at :
_ only six Platonic Solids, of which the cube. isbyfarthe
the carvings obviously lack aany written notes, We
how they were used, butiit’seee
language so far. eRe :
The earliest puzzledefinite
Babylonia, and.dates to arou.
fe.
lengths of the sides of:
are
ati e
of our puzzle activity
ancient Egyptian rid
sort of time. A few hundred 5 :
required some lateral thinking nd drink from—
eVecmd rnin
By 1200BC, dice had been invent Thi novation occurred ae ‘
the long, dull siege of Troy ifthe
Pane are tobe believed. , “3
 A well-documented craze for lateral thinking and logicaldeduction:$2
puzzles and riddles swept through ancient Greece from the Sth : ba
century BC, lasting for several hundred years. That carried on over into 3 %
ancient Rome in the form of advanced mathematical and logiicalwork,a ae
The Chinese irivented Magic Square puzzles around 100BC, callinghe & x ‘
them “Lo Shu” river maps. Other Chinese puzzle advances follo
lowed,ee a7 E
including the first setsiof interlocking puzzle rings around S00AD, th
theae si
game of Snakes and Ladders by 700AD, and the first versions of‘playing Bs
cards in 969AD, with a deck of cards made for the Emperor Mu-Tsung. < .oe
: These had little in common with modern playing cards, however. Dee snes
See «deck of cards we Paseo almost certainly came Ear Persia:some tae
: hundred jyears later, arriving into Europe with Spanish sailors. pes
ay eat The traditional puzzle game of Fox and Hounds arose in the 12th:&
ae “century iin Scandinavia. Despite persistent rumours of great accuse
, ee ~ one of the most famous Chinese puzzles — remain unknown
ae 27AD,, making them a comparatively recent innovation.
e
ee 19th centuryonwards, as the global economy slowly started
45e, puzzles became a significant business, and they
, OAL
Oe eee
d wi vide. Some of the mostcurrently famous include the
‘ac-To0€e, which wasinvented in1820 by the father of modern
- . eee Babbage, and Lucas’ Towers of Hanoi puzzle from
2 1883 “Teas‘the crossword, created i in19113 by.‘Arthur Wynne, that
oS really took over the world nner = evenRubik’s Cube from 1974 and
- Howard Garns’ Sudoku from 1979 9 hayen’t
| t had the same impact. New
ae puzzles keep coming all thetime |though,and tthe one thing you can be
sure ‘of is that the next world-pers somewhere around the corner.
% A ig 4
: my
"pi .

FPS Tim Peiopilos, dedopulos@gmail.com

- Py oe Cyr MEE £
 GO

The ae ae lived in Zaire in Africa around 9000BC, adiemay hie

~ been amongst the forefathers of modern African people. Out of all the. cs
archaeological discoveries that va 1a made ee the ting cea Hi

AT Ghia
nate But the ee Bone contains oe SEnumbers, iinhee ‘ms (
columns of scratches marked into its sides. Although there remains seep mic
uncertainty,itis thought that each. of
F thethreegroups acs a de
eps
tribe’s knowledge “of |mathematical pr ¢ s
3_ column iis the plainest. There iisa3 next
ie a6, a¢ a5 oe 8, ineS105,
next to:a ce
along with a further 5 anda. Leaving aside the last pair for the moment, thesee pai
clearly indicate multiplication by two.
What mathematical processes do the other two sides indicate, and wheredo the
remaining 5and yEfrom thefirst side fit?
 The ancient Egyptian cult of Isis began some time. before 2500BC, and survived intooem
a ~ ancient Greece and Rome. Isis was the goddess of|
fertilityand motherhood, and her op ag
SStisband, Osiris, was the god of the underworld. Lunar s mbolism was
w s central ttothe | oe
~ cult, which believed that Osiris had been murdered an dismembered, before being iis
os A rostly) put back
together
by Isis,who then resurrected hime : ee ie
© Members of the cult
ofIsis believed that Osiris A been killed on the 17th of
the
th * a
- Q
; — ~ Junar month, thepointat which the moon's waning becomes obvious._Asaresult, thatoope a
=:a day ~ and number—was abominable, ritually taboo. Bycontrast, 28, the length of the Pes
: lunar month, wass sacred, and Osiris
s vwassaid to have reigned (or sometimes lived) fora ax a
s 28 years. Osiris wasevensaid tohave
chap lopgtnied Aes See the 14 8
bee
“= day s of themoon’s waning. ehh
to saeot Lee fe

The cult also held two other aan in esteem howe ~ the only two ty > possible.Zee
ve
= whole -number perimeter values ofa rectangle which enclosesaieesame areaasitsown
length: Which twonumbersn aretthey, ue else rigLae be a Sees
hc
ee nant
cult? — ~
~iigg eee
Seale i
4
= :
= te is Ss. See
ok Xi x ce a ace
“ si Saye 6 oe ae

cg DEES Te Ss eae eS =
( Oh. aia ¥ = sie: amie 3 fie
z me re : slags
a Te ah ee te oa $ z
é ee : 3
Se OI eae
4 é Pe 1 ae F
Rots i fc Se ee ar 2
Pie RC oe
ae ike
- » we pers

~ ¥ ‘

- bi Sek Re se eae 6
Hee igee uerates, ig acese het igh ca .
A oe Pate % oe aes Be ; si
Ante si tetaga an os %

Z srg ee
ft, mi ps 5
7 eee ren Sits cone
% sen ssid ate
= o ~ Ag eee a $e
sanmaiament - i wee ns m

~~

FeigeSapte te a :
ee re

sa ee +

aeANSWER 2.
AE Bee ee oie
Be ee leat
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ee ee ark
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 The Moscow Papyrus is the oldest known Egyptian mathematical text. It is thought -
to date to some time shortly before 2000BC, making it somewhat older than its”
- longer, more detailed cousin, the Rhind Papyrus. The Moscow Papyrus was purchased,-
contents unknown, by Egyptologist Vladimir Goleniscev around the end of the 19th
century, and then re-sold to the Pushkin Museum ini 1909. The scribe responsible for
the Moscow Papyrus did not record his name, but the manuscript is also sometimes _
known as the Goleniscev Mathematical Papyrus. Problem 14 of the Moscow Papyrus
poses this bee oad so pista questions ms

If you are wailthat a truncated squatesbase Bicare has 6 for the vertical height, pees
_ 4on the base and by 2 on the top, what is the volume?

EGYPT
195 OBC =
 _RIANGLES
OF BABYLON —

This puzzle is taken from a Babylonian clay tablet dating from around 1900BC, found
— in the Schoyen Collection - a wonderful treasury of philanthropically-assembled
es - page ADUSCTIPIS ofall types from the last five millennia —and gives an interesting geometric
problem. Itis thought that the tablet might have been something in the nature of an
~ assignment for students, because it doesn’t give the answer to the problem.
As you can see in the image, two equilateral triangles are nested in one another,
~~parallel on all sides. The smaller has a side length of three; thelarger, 5. What is the”mec
area of the space Beevers the two Eta est
ie

BABYLONIA
1 9O0BC
SEE ANSWER 4
 et

HMES! LOA
The oldest remaining collection of puzzles known to us
is a collection of mathematical problems from ancient
Egypt. It was written in 1650BC by a scribe named Ahmes, working from now-
lost parchments that were at least 200 years older, and may have even dated from
times before that. The collection is known as the Rhind Papyrus, after the Scotsman *
who bought the document, as an Egyptian curio, in the 1850s. The Rhind Papyrus
provides us with an invaluable insight into Egyptian mathematical techniques and
logical thought. One of the more interesting peculiarities of the Egyptian system
was their method of subdividing whole numbers. They understood the idea of
fractions, to a sophisticated degree, but did not have any conception of fractional
multiples. In other words, they understood the idea of % easily, but the idea of
% was totally alien. In fact, even the idea of repeating the same fraction for one
given number would have confused them. So if an ancient Egyptian subtracted 4
_ from 1, he would not have thought of the remainder as 34, or even as 4+ %4 + Ys,
but as % + “4.
Bearing that in mind, one of Ahmes’ puzzles asks the reader to divide three
loaves of bread between five men. What solution would he have understood? It
will help if you. think about the problem practically — each man must receive not
only the same amount of bread, but also the same type and number of pieces, each

i
of which must be a different size.

ce

he
c

WAR
EGYPT
€, 185 0R6
Jim.
 Ch
1s fp
S | WAS GOING TO
AMENEMHET III'S

The best-known puzzle in the Rhind Papyrus is famous primarily because it has
: survived down through the centuries, travelling via Rome to end up in 18th century
Europe and on to the modern era. The Rhind version barely bothers to give the
=aqeequestion,
ge concentrating instead on the answer, presumably bevansethe question was
already
Z so
s well-known. Everything considered, it has aged remarkably well.
A wealthy priest owns seven houses. Each of these houses contains seven cats. Each
==
~ cat must eat seven mice, because each mouse can eat seven sheaves of wheat. A sheaf
= =
wee
—
of wheat can produce seven hekats of grain. Houses, cats, mice, sheaves, grain: how *
—_
~~ many in total fall within the priest’s domain?
eS ee : ae => —_—

a Sap EGYPT
+> = : 1850BC
a a iN
fim SEE ANSWER6
 oer 7
cite 49 e th Wht i»,

e DAL me n
w e . CMU...
LG; / tif SP» iii

ELI LLIOO
gee
Cea Kipp AK WH BZ =
x ay

| ALD

In Problem 24 of the Rhind Papyrus, Ahmes asks the reader to calculate a

missing quantity:

One amount added to a quarter of that amount becomes 15. What is the amount?

EGYPT
1850BC
iim
< Ree:
= tie: te
= rs Sua eop
Rey

te a; teem
ah,

FRACTIONAL
ime. t ; : =! . a > 2
‘ k cg aea ab a Sa see
tas cas Or ce kag AE RE asin

meee Segive instructioncee practice wie the issueeatsotblegany te unit Sacto

_ As?/3 was the only allowed fraction that wasn’t 1/#, and repeating a fraction within —
__asingle number wasn’t allowed, this was a somewhat thorny issue. Ahmes presented
_ atableoffractions and their doubles - ts
s, for example, doubled to ts:
3+ /is—- butswe
have modern techniques instead.
Problem 21 of the ‘Rhind Papyrus asksi reader tto
completeWs+
3+ shetol. Can os
you.do itfollowing theEgyptian rules? ee soo

a | op EGYPT al 227k
oS ea WB OLB
SEE ANSWER 8
Ahmes sets this puzzle involving equivalent values in Problem 72 of the Rhind =
Papyrus. We can quickly recognize that the problem is one of percentages, but that
was not a concept that fitted readily with the Egyptian mathematical system.

A group of men have 100 hekats of barley of impurity (pesu) 10. They wish to
exchange it for a fair quantity of inferior barley, of pesu 45. What is the fair quantity?

EGYPT
185 ORC
 RO G R E S S I V E F

" L O A V E S e E a
oe

iS a)

~The mathematical-rule of Regula Falsi = False Position) states that, when; attempting 2 —
to solve a mathematical problem, ifyou put in a value that you know to give the wrong
w —
eaeruth answer, the proportion of the wrong answer to the answer you want should indicate
_ the proportion bywhich your initial value is incorrect. As avery trivial example, look
at theDore Sele= 6. sex=1, and you get 1*3= 3; You need to2 double 3 to get6, so

ey.ie:question iiseae eldetch youae ee to try two or three progressive

< possibilities to see a clear trend.
_In the Rhind Papyrus, Ahmes lists a question that, at thetime at least, seated quite.
__ sophisticated use of the Regula Falsiin ordertobe solved. = ;
=e Joayes.are to begivided ESE heaven Sve men, 1 The amount aebread

shares
soir are vedito rast"of theae ae collected shares.oe how ‘neh:
= aethe shares decrease each time? .

is, EGYPT
-1850BC
SEE ANSWER 10
 Some of the questions in the Rhind Papyrus can get quite complex, particularly
given the mathematics of the time. For some, the key really does lie in finding the
best available technique for cracking the nut of the problem, rather than settling for
- aless ideal method of solution. ;
Bear Egyptian mathematical peculiarities in mind as you consider Problem 28 of
the Papyrus. A quantity together with its two-thirds has one third of its sum taken
away to yield 10. What is the quantity?

EGYPT e
4-850BG
iim.
 “The 24th puzzle of the Rhind Papyrus provides an interesting exit:ofa problem =
_and solutiontechnique that would go on to become fundamentally important to.
Businesses i
in the Middle Ages. It was even known as The Golden J
Rulefora time,
because of its ae to eee trade. ee ee
ee|
Set
 2e2 e 1 9 5
Cl
=
a

E
ws

I V
* *

ROGRES S
*

SHARES

One of Ahmes’ more challenging trials involves a rather complex question of

mathematical progression — the sort of thing which at one point was thought to
have first emerged with the great Greek mathematicians.
In Problem 64 of the Rhind Papyrus, he asks:
If it is said to you to divide 10 hekats of barley amongst 10 men, so that the
difference of each man to his neighbour in hekats of barley is '/sth of a hekat, then
what is each man’s share? :
You may make do with finding just the largest share, to save calculating a lot of
Egyptian fractions.

EGYP5TOBE
€--+8
13
_ SEE ANSWER
 This is one of the Rhind Pepa: more important puzzles, indicating the
understanding of pias a mathematical constant. Ahmes didn’t have an accurate —
= _yalue for pi, but he was clearly aware that there was one, and that it was absolutely
fundamental
erie
to geometry. _ ; ha
: nathispuzzle, thereis a cylindrical granary of diameter 9 andheight 6. How much —
ae a grain can go into it?
The question assumes that the reader doesn’t have any knowledge of pi, so when
__ you're answering this one, you’ re not. allowed to use the standard formula for theae
- area ofa circle. — you work outthe :answer from firstprinciples?merc ae

EGYPT
GF 820BC 6

SEE ANSWER 14
 The Berlin Papyrus is another ancient Egyptian scroll, one that contains a mixture
of medical and mathematical information. It has the earliest known information -
- on pregnancy testing, and is generally classified amongst the Egyptian medical -
papyri rather than the mathematical ones. It was found earlyin the 19th century at —
Saqgara, and like the Moscow Papyrus, it isaranonymous. It also contains one of the
most sophisticated Egyptian Regula Falsi problems stillextant today.
An area of 100 square cubits is equal to that of two smaller squares together. The _
side of one is % + % the side of the other. What are their sides? ;
¥

Li re ee

a
Le

EGYPT
C. 1 800BC
oo
 ~ Sumer, in what is now southern Iraq, is regarded as the cradle of eialtctoss
The nation arose as humans started deliberate intensive cultivation some seven:
= “to eight thousand years ago, and the availability of stored food allowed |people to
move beyond just hunting and gathering to performing social roles that did not
=Bt *directly provide food or defence. Complex records were required: to keep all this —
iisSe sning. and writing grew out of it as a direct result. wie sf aH
~ ‘This riddle dates from the last phase of Sumerian history; ‘Stir would’ g
eventually fall, largely thanks to the ecological results of its farming ess .
to be replaced by Babylon. eee ee Oe eae e e kee:
There iis a house. One enters it‘Blind One leaves iit seeing. What iis
sit? wok
, se ae
:e a
asae

Sane
erier eer nice
le Re La

-
eee
—— See
eee
eer -
“ &
——> legged

we

SEE ANSWER 16
Rahs
 ,

Pharaoh Ramesses II ruled Ancient Egypt at the height of its glory, and had
an immense impact on. the kingdom. His grandest architectural work was his
memorial temple, the Ramesseum at Kurna. It remained an important centre of.
learning and worship for centuries after his death. The temple was found by modern
European scientists at the end of the 18th century: Among the hieroglyphs and
decorations, they discovered a curious puzzle painted onto a ceiling — Ramesses’
Star. It is one of the oldest puzzles known, and may have been the forerunner of _
the medieval game of Nine Men’s Morris.
The aim is to fill nine of the ten circles on the star with coins, beads, or anything
else handy. Place a coin on any empty circle on the star, andjjump it over one circle
_ (empty or filled) to another empty circle in a straight line. It is possible to fill nine
of the ten circles this way, but it is not easy — if you find yourself getting stuck at
six or seven circles, then persevere, and try some lateral thinking.

EGYPT
121386
Tn SEE ANSWER17
 “Se. RIDDLE OF
C
"TRE SPER

be[etace 3
WE Pieter i oe t4 ; = 3 he

. The Riddle of the Sphin is probably ie ed famous and enduringriddle :

Pama R ofthem all. a

ae ees the hills outside the aesof Thebes, and demanded Rk et dias answer
~~ her riddle. When they failed to do so-correctly, she devoured them. Her question =
was: “Which creature goss on fuea in the:
La vntwo at mid- day and three i
bs 2za
= ceerg ae n “¢ Eo e =
ic, ae

ee
2 es a ance oa
Reams
Aes sr GRE er .
;: : 2 ae
Monee 78 th
i

-GuoQOBRC see 4b Ore

aor nrrnnmnreire
1O
 Cl 28 C= |

HE QUIET
the
<
ae

ONE |

\
SS
LN &
7E Ae,

This is another ancient Greek riddle that has survived since antiquity. As is often the
case, it is the universal themes that remain enduring.
What has a mouth but does not speak, what has a bed but never sleeps?

GREECE
c. VOOBC
Im SEE ANSWER 19
 i
os riddle dates back to ancient Greece
This and has survived through = che Z
SE Se ve oe
3 ae = | oe: 3 ieoo
> ‘ <i eee Ss : ages
: Bn eaten oe

s
enthere
come without
at bungcalled.

. GREECE
=i 3OOBC
 Epimenides of Knossos was a Cretan Greek poet, philosopher and visionary in the
6th century BC. In his poem Cretica, he rails against his fellow Cretans for denying »
the immortality of the god Zeus, saying “The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts”.
At some point, the poem became associated with the liar paradox, and eventually
became known as Epimenides’ Paradox. :
There is no one formulation of the paradox, but put simply, it says that
Epimenides, a Cretan, says “All Cretans are liars.” But he himself is a Cretan. If
he is telling the truth, his statement has to be a lie, and he is not telling the truth;
if he is lying, then he is giving weight to thetruth of his statement, and therefore
not lying. ie :
What fawéatewtere atlas : g

GREECE
€.> 5 OBE
Sim.
 Zeno of Elea was a Greek philosopher who lived from
around 490BC to around 430BC, and was placed intoa
large mortar and pounded to death after taking part in an unsuccessful attempt to
overthrow the tyrant Demylus. He was a member ofthe Eleatic School of philosophy, ee
__ which heldthat all existence and time is but one construct, and. allappearances to
=Benet contrary— plurality, motion, change and. so on — are illusory. Asa young man, he |
wrote
ba cae a
a book of forty logical paradoxes to support the Eleatic philosophy and bolster
b
be sare Parmenides. Zeno hadn't even decided whether toPepsi the book or
aS
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Scales survive,danke to commentaries by Aristotle andSimple Today, shag
_____arehis most famouslegacy. Sena oe “ ‘=
| In this Dichotomy, also known as Zeno’s Rigen: he points out
ov that r
movement a
is impossible because any moyement must pass through the half-“way stage |before ibot
___arrives.at its goal. But then the half-way stage becomes «a new goal, and iit toohas a
a half-way, and so on. In fact, even the tiniest movement has an infinity of ever-smaller e
ee half-way stages that must be reached first, and no finite amount of time isenough to
reach an infinite number ofstages. : ee 8
~ Ignoring the fact that thisis a reductio ad absurdum2 argumentt-thatis‘experimentally
a obviously wrong — things move — is there a logical.pee here? a
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In the Paradox of the Arrow, Zeno points out that an arrow occupies a specific area
of space when it is at rest. He then points out that in any given instant, the arrow in _
flight is at rest. If, during one tiny instant of time, the arrow moved, then it would be —
possible to divide the instant into before and after moments. Therefore the arrow is
motionless, and therefore motion has to be an illusion or, at the ary least, to occur
between moments somehow, outside of time.
Was he wrong?

GREECE. .
Cc. 470BC
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Another of Zeno’s paradoxes of motion is that of the stadium. Imagine that there.
are two lines of five runners, A and B, running around a track in opposite directions.
They are moving at the same speed, as can be clearly observed by a row of five
__. Stationary spectators, C. Each row of people is the same length. The two rows of
aes. _runners cross as they are passing the spectators, A on the outside. The length of A is
~~ the same as the length of B and C, and A and B are moying at the same speed. The
_ first member of A will run the entire length of B in x seconds. But B, running at
~~ the same speed, will only run half the length of C in the same time. As the lengths
~~ of Band C are the same, Zeno asserts that time isx = x*2, which is impossible, and
gakerctoretime isMityy.... $22, ago eS
_ Isthere anything to Zeno’sargument?
a : ne. ee ca 4 : G Secsige i
es . oh

Fee | GREECE
eae CHATFOBC-:
pe Semen pines Binnie : SEE ANSWER 24
meio
Zeno’s most famous paradox is that of Achilles and the Tortoise. In it, he gives a
situation where Achilles is in a race with a tortoise, and gives the tortoise a 100m
head-start. Once the tortoise reaches 100m, Achilles races to catch up with it. But in
the time taken to do so, the tortoise has moved further on. Achilles must catch up to
the new point — by which time the tortoise will have moved again. In fact, Achilles . se
will never be able to catch up, because the tortoise will always have moved on bytheas
time he gets to where it had been.
Where’s the problem?

GREECE
c. 470BC
iim _ SEE ANSWER 25
 Tie Sorites Paradox, named after the Greek word for heap, was coined by Eubulides.
_ of Miletus, aMegarian (or Eristic) philosopher from the 4th century BC who ‘spent
~ much of his.energy bitterly attacking Aristotle, who was hiscontemporary. Megarian’
_ philosophy, founded by Euclid of Megara, espoused the idea ofeile a pettect
goodness, a state of gracewith similarities to Zeno’s Eleatic unity. ae Gua ae
Se Pubulidesiis known for his paradoxes, most ofwhich arise: from settingupsituations —
with yague starting conditions. The Sorites paradox sstates thata large number of
grains of sand collected together is aheap, and takingone grain ofsand from iit docsaS<
not stop it being a heap. Soisitstilla heap when only onee grain of sandremains}:And
ifnot, when did ieswitch pases aletraty:more?c et Se
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This riddle reflects interestingly on ancient Greek thought.

There are four brothers, in this world, who were all born together.
The first brother runs and runs, and never grows tired.
The second brother eats and eats, and is never full.
The third brother drinks and drinks, and is never sated.
The fourth brother sings an unending song, and it is never good.
oe

GREECE
Cc. 4OOBC
pling SEE ANSWER 27
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c. 4OOBC
 This ancient Greek riddle can still stretch modern ingenuity:

‘There was a green house.

~ Inside the green house was a white house.
Inside the white house was a red house.
Inside the red house, lots of babies.
 -}-HE LUO RIVE
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Sriccading to legend China’ fis emperor was Fu Hsi, halfman a halfdpedoa =

___who consolidated the country into one kingdom around 3000BC. As he-was riding
along beside the Ho Tu, the Yellow River, one day, he saw a dragon-horse rise from eee
_ the water, and on it was a curious design, a series of dots set in concentric ringsand
linked in a particular arrangement. This pattern became known as the Yellow River = &
map, and from it, Fu Hsi derived the eight trigrams of Chinese mystical thought that oe
form the famous divination system of the I Ching, the Book of Changes.
“
~ Almost a thousand years later, the Emperor Yu ~ another legendary figure — was
- _ riding] beside the Lo Shu, the Luo River, when a tortoise rose from the water, bearing
markings similar to the Yellow Rivert
map, but in a very different pattern. Thispattern,
Pe. became known as the Lo Shu, the Luo River scroll. Yu used it to re-order the eight
trigrams, linking them to the five Chinese elements, and it was said that Fu Hsi’s
"arrangement represented the order of things before the world was reac whilst—
= Yu's zaeSoeee saa the order of ee in the ae ae as
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rather than 2300BC. How iis it
itbetter known iin the West? 2 i amt

are Coin: Sir aes aes

Sere eae
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SEE ANSWER
=
30
Bare eas
 In De Caelo (About the Heavens), Aristotle discussed the theoretical possibility of a
man who is equally hungry and thirsty being poised, equidistant, between food and
drink. Unable to decide, he moves to neither, and eventually dies.
French philosopher Jean Buridan, a 14th century thinker, became associated with
the problem because he suggested that any fully-informed human when faced with
alternative options will always choose the one that leads to the greatest good, after
due consideration. Later philosophers used Aristotle’s thoughts to satirise Buridan,
suggesting that an ass placed between two equally tempting bales of hay would starve
trying to decide which to eat.
One common response to the paradox is to point out that sometimes an arbitrary
decision is perfectly rational, and that it is much more rational just to pick one> rather ae
than starve. Can you think of another response?

a GREECE
: Z40BC
TM SEE ANSWER 31
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3 The Chinese philosopher Hui Shi lived some time around the start of the 3rd century —
: BC, during China's Warring States period. He was famous as a thetorician, devoting
himself to a doctrine that argued the arbitrary nature of human perception, and
"=the ‘consequent need totreat all of nature benevolently. Heleft a setoften famous _
paradoxes, some of which are not so much paradoxical as statements of philosophy.
—- In Hui Shi’s third paradox, he states that “Heaven is as low as earth, mountains are- ae
~~ Jevel with marshes.” si cereeor e Se ee
=
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What ishe getting at?
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Hi fie . CHINA ei od
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- : 32 ae : a if:
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 There are a number of places where common mathematical assumptions break
down, and provide scope for seemingly paradoxical proofs. Euclid collected:
together an entire volume of such falsities, to help show the importance of rigour in -
mathematical thought. It is reasonably straightforward to show that 0 = 1, and by ~
extension, that maths is flawed.
Start by adding an infinite number of zeros together. No matter how much
nothing you add, you still have nothing. 0=0+0+0+0+0+.. is Ae
Now, 1 - Lis is0, so you can just as easly read that as 0 = (1 ate+ (1 1) + (1-1)
is : ; a i
Bat if that is true — and it is — ihe aaceiare law states that you can bracket the.
~ sums as you like, so long as you don change the order of any digits, so 0 = 1 (-1 +1)
~ + (-141) + (-141)+
As (-1 + 1) is 0, this becomes 0= 1+0+0+0 +...
And 0 =1.
What’s the error?

GREECE
C- 3 0OBG:
Im.
 *

AG ancient Greek paradox of uncertain authorship eee | a hungry <crocadles*

_ snatching a baby from its mother on the banks of the Nile. The mother begged for ; &

= wis mercy, and the crocodile wanted to look good in the eyes of the gods, and so agreed to
~_...- give herachance to win her baby back. The crocodile told her,‘ ‘Ifyou correctly predict
“SRR ee fateof
your baby, thenIwill return him. Otherwise, I will eat him.” jee.
ve he
= piven that the crocodile wants to eat ae‘baby, iis there anything thatthemother

eae ee

_ SEE ANSWER34
 The right-angled triangle has been one of the most prevalent and fundamental
mathematical discoveries in human history. It allows the reliable construction of —
square angles, which in turn permits advances in construction, manufacturing and _ :
a host of other areas. The most common version found in history is the poster-boy .
for Pythagoras’ theorem, the 3-4-5 triangle. si
The Egyptians had early knowledge of the importance of right-angled triangles,
with particular emphasis on the 3-4-5. It was said that the length 3 section belonged
to Isis, the length 4 section to Osiris, and the length 5 hypotenuse to their son, the —
hawk-headed god Horus. *
The earliest clear use of the triangle as an Egyptian puzzle appears around 300BC. ~
The problem it asks is trivial to us, of course: “Ifa ladder of 10 cubits has its base 6
_ cubits from a wall, how high willit reach?” The answer is a simple ee of the
* Pythagorean triple of 3-4-5.
A more interesting question is about Pythagorean triples themselves, which _
consist of three integers that could describe the sides of a right-angled triangle.
Discounting any simple multiples of other triples, how many triples are there with a
hypotenuse of less than 20?

EGYPT.
Cc. 300BC_
iim SEE ANSWER 3
 . | s
_ Prime numbers, being indivisible, are one of the most fundamental mathematical_
=; “concepts, and, like square numbers, have often been the sourceofmystical speculation. ek
3 — _ The ancient Greeks were particularly sophisticated in theirhandlingof |prime
numbers. The Greek mathematical master Euclid proved thatthere must be an _
pabtiniks number of primes. food . git ab ee de

ae can use Euclid’s method to discover new primes, with patience, but you can’t
3 oebe -sure of catching all = them that way. You can also use 2 more Patience and, —
ee for each number, check if it can be divided by the other primes you already know Mee

3 to discover ifit is prime. If you get past its square root without finding a prime a2ce
-
=e divisor, your rarget,number is prime. You'll get- them all,_ but while that’s OK for ? 3

small numbers, it’s horribly time-consuming for larger Set. BE ease: ane RS
me

aii Eratosthenes, an approximate contemporary of Euclid’s from. the 3rd ccentury Bc: E
= ert a brilliantly simple way of making it quicker to find prime numbers, and ig
- became known as his Sieve, for the patterns it made. Given the technique’s name, _
ro ks work ouauhiesthemethod Meth ais seep
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GREECE ee :
Ch 250 BC Ree sae Peet “a = a os : ; ;

seb
ANSWER
; 36
se3
 Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek scientist who
died in 212 BC at the age of 75. He is remembered
as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, and possibly the greatest scientist
of the ancient world. It is said that he devised the most fiendishly difficult puzzle of ~
all, created as a challenge and rebuke to Apollonius of Perga, a geometrician who had ~
suggested improvements to some of Archimedes’ theorems. Archimedes’ Revenge :
was then supposedly sent to Eratosthenes, the chief librarian at the legendary Great
Library of Alexandria, for the library stafftowork on.
The challenge is to calculate the numbers of the cattle of the sun, belonging to —
the gods. There were four different herds, one white, one black, one yellow and ane =
dappled. The number of white bulls was equal to a half plus a third of the black bulls,
plus all of the yellow bulls. The black bulls. were equal to a quarter of the dappled
plus a fifth, plus all of the yellow ones. The dappled bulls were equal to one sixth of
~ the white plus one seventh, plus all the yellow ones. The number of white cows was
~ equal to one third plus a quarter of the entire black herd. The black cows were equal
to a quarter of the dappled herd plus a fifth. A quarter of the dappled cows were
equal to a fifth plus a sixth of the yellow herd. The yellow cows were equal to a sixth
plus a seventh of the white herd. When the white and black herds mingled, their
combined number was a perfect square. Similarly, when the dappled and yellow
herds mingled, they came to a triangular number. How many cows and bulls were
there in each herd?
Be warned: many professional mathematicians would need either a high-powered
computer or several years of hard work to solve this puzzle.

GREECE |
€; 23 OBGree 3 ——
E ANSWER 37.
 N I N E
THCEHAPTERS.
i
"
The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art is a collection of mathematical teachings.
from early China. The book was known in 179AD, and mayactually be several —
_~centuriesearlier; its most important commentary, written in 263A D by mathematician
__ Liu Hui, credits Zhang Cang, who died in 142BC, as the work’s earliest compiler.
eye gle:actual original authors are anonymous, but the book illuminated and shaped
_ ~ mathematical thought in the East until atleastthe 1600s. Rg
a tee soe
~ One of the book’s most important concepts is that of abstract numeration. Concrete. <2 A
numeration is obvious to anyone— one apple is one apple, both three grapes sand
z threeee
plums are groups of 3, and so on. The natural numbers are just that, natural. Abstract
numbers are far harder to grasp if you don’t already know them. The Nine Chapters.
E contains problems which require the use of‘both 0 and negative numbers to solve.
_— Both of these are extremely counter-intuitive, and require that you think ofabsence
as somehow a concrete, solid thing. Bley wees
_ This puzzle is from the eighth chapter, “Fang Cheng”.
____ ~~ There are three grades of corn, each of which comes in a basket of a particular
size. Two baskets of first-grade corn do not make one measure, and neither do three —
Ss baskets of second-grade corn, nor four baskets of third--grade corn. However, if you =
add one basket of second-grade to the two first-grade baskets, or one basket of third- —
~ grade to the three second-grade baskets, or one basket of first-grade to the four third-
grade baskets, then you would have one measure in each case. What proportion ofa
measure does each basket size contain? :

vd bad “4

4 CHINA
ees CAA SOBC a te ee
_ SEE ANSWER 38
The cistern problem dates back to the Nine Chapters, and is part of a common ~
thread of puzzle challenges that crops up regularly in civilisations all over the world.
This is probably because the premise is both practical and fairly fundamental.
There is a cistern of volume 48 which. has two inlet taps and one outlet tap.
The first inlet tap alone will fill the cistern in 12 hours. The second alone will fill it
in 6 hours. The third alone will empty it in 8 hours. Ifthe cistern is emptied and all
three taps are opened, how many hours williittake for it to fillup?

CHINA sit
€ 150OBG
 The sixth chapter of the The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Drediils = oe heat
_ mathematical knowledge required for purposes oftaxation —how to diseribute taxes,a eS
"transport grain, and so on. This section also introduced pursuit problems,,where the
puzzle involves working out how soon a pursuing party will catchv up withaeae
aeai one. The possible implications of this inclusion are left to the reader. pag Seo, Sata) =
p ct
Bsss ~ This puzzle states that a fleeing hare and a chasing dog are 50pu apart. The dogwill ae
=. =ech the hare after a chase of 125pu. How much nek willthechase be once the
* dog has closed to a distance of 30pu? ek ae ce e = :

CHINA sis waa : ae

- 1 1 50BC ee
_ SEE ANSWER 40
The seventh chapter of the Zhe Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art is devoted
to what the authors called ‘Excess and Deficiency’ problems — the same sort of
Regula Falsi approach that Ahmes made use of in the Rhind Papyrus. In the Chinese
method, two answers were usually given, one greater and one lesser than the actual
answer required, which is where the technique drew its name from.
In this puzzle, a group of people are buying a consignment of chickens froma stall,
and they are each paying the same amount of money. If they each contribute 9 wen, —
they are paying 11 wen too much, and if they contribute 6 wen, then are payin
too little. ae =
How many people are there, and what is the cost of the consignment? _

CHINA
G13 ORGS
iim. SEE ANSWER 41
 grey

The-entireninth chapter of The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Artis “abouthas ee

__angled triangles, possibly because they were so critical in accurately assessing land —
~ distribution for farming. The chapter is
is named Kou Ku, a term derived from the names
~ given to thesides of a right-angledtriangle. The two sides that formed the right-angle
ona right-angled triangle were named Kou and Ku, Leg and Thigh. The hypotenuse,
: stretching between the two tips, was known as the Hsien, or lute-string.
This puzzle iis concerned with discovering the size of the largest.square that can. i
fine _right-angle triangle, os usé“of the pre-eaeNG ae angleinit
4 neve _
‘ se a aE

is a right-a let st ofS. ih

and of12chi,How many
si, eea
ela geen —
th n fit
inside?
?
ss
hd
Pear

CHINA sultry ae
OBG cheek
CNS St
The Nine Chapters also features the first known instance of the Men Buy a Horse
puzzle, a commonly-encountered type of problem.
There are three men who are considering buying a horse that costs 24 yuan.
Individually, none of the three has enough money. The first man says, “If 1borrowed
a half of the money that you two have, I could buy the horse.” The second man says,
“If | borrowed two thirds of the money that you two have, I could buy the horse
and still have around half a yuan left.” The third man says, “Well, if 1borrowed three
quarters of the money that you two have, I could buy the horse and still have one
and a half yuan left over.” :
Assuming each man has a whole number of yuan, how much does each man have?
Miia

CHINA
C T5ORG
Sm.
 Set Ce ee
cient
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 OSTHU

The Posthumous Twins problem arose when Roman law decreed that the legal heir
of an estate should receive at least 1/4 of that estate, and if the will was invalidated,
only the deceased’s children could inherit. The idea was to cement the rights of the
eldest son of the deceased with respect to a possible widow or other claimant.
In this problem, a dying man with a pregnant wife makes a will which states that ifhis
-wife has a male child, the son should get % of the estate and the wife should get ¥. If
she has a female child, the wife will get the larger %4 share, and the daughter will get Ys,
After the man’s death, the wife gives birth to twins, one boy and one girl,
How is the estate to be shared?
can SoreSse
ae
 Plutarch was a Greek-born philosopher and historianwho lived in teotioe century
_AD. He is best known now for his book Parallel Lives, a series of 23 biographical
~ studies of historical figures, arranged in pairs, one Greek, one Roman. He looked at
__character, in particular, and drew interesting correspondences between his pairs. OMe
___ Imapiece on the Greek hero Theseus, Plutarch notes that on hisreturn to Athens, the |
ts"ship that he had travelled in was preserved as a historic relic. As the planks decayed,
= ~~ the old timbers were removed, and replaced with lovingly-crafted exactdilicnseae
is
2 _ In this manner, the ship was prssenyes down through the centuries, even to thea ee=
; century BC. ms sige oe ae ae ae
The question Plutarch poses is,ifallof repiecesiohtod shi take ptheship—
havebegn replaced, possibly many times, is itt still thesame ship? a gaseo 4 Tae
toes

Yas,
 The Men Find a Purse problem has been cropping up regularly in different
mathematically-inclined cultures since its first appearance in ancient Greece. In his ’
- masterwork Liber Abaci, published in 1202, Fibonacci devotes an entire section of
the book to discussion of the problem and various different versions of it.
Three men were walking together when they discovered a purse of money. They
examine the purse, and the first says to the second, “IfI took this purse, I would have
twice as much money as you.” The second says to the third, “I would have three times
as much as you.” The third says to the first “I would have four times as much as you.”
How much does the purse hold, and how much does each man have?

GREECE
250AD
im | SEE ANSWER47
 Rae oe ey
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rather ellingriddlefioth Roi times:

Bein Lt ity has it does not say it.

seHe who takesit does not know it.

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 It was an Arabic puzzle which took the idea of even distribution of varied resources ~
toa pinnacle of complex challenge. Its history is uncertain, but it appeared in several» ~
~ volumes of Arabic puzzle collections in the second half of the last millennium, and. _
may have been considerably older than that. _ : me
In this puzzle, a dying father leaves a range of wine caskstohis five sons. His bequest
amounts to 45 casks in total, 9 holding 4 pints, 9 holding 3 pints, 9 holding 2 pints,
9 holding 1 pint, and 9 containing nothing. The wine is to be shared equally, in both
amount of wine (18 pints) and number of casks (9). Each son wants to get at least
one of each cask, and each of them wants to receive a different distribution of casks
to any of their brothers. Pompe anny _
How can this be done? i s

ARABIA.
€- 400AB- =

rs
 A ——

i a’ -
ote Ss

UN TZU's =
CLASSIC
PROBLEM
In thebook Sux Tzu Suanjing, 31d century AD Chinese mathematician Sun Tzu —
oe to the w tit St is military general, who lived some five centuries
~~ eater— introducedan important priinciple in number theory, known now as the
ne Chinese ReminderTheorem. His illustrative question for the Theorem has become
—_—known as SunTas Classic Problem
@ ~ We have groupof things of which we do not know the number. If we count them
Dy chcees, the remainderis two. If we count them by fives, the remainder
is3. If we
»
count them by sevens, the remainder
is two.How many 2 gs are there?

se

4 = - ; Zo
=
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— = ae
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oe Foe : pesitsininl SEE ANSWER50

‘ i - = _ Z
 CAMELS

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8

A traditional Arabic puzzle, most likely owing its conception to the ancient
Egyptian style of fractional representation, specifies that in an old Arabian city,
a wealthy merchant died and, in his will, left specific instructions regarding the
disposition of his livestock. His lawyer met the merchant's three sons, and explained
to them that his father had insisted that his eldest son receive a full half of his
camels. The middle son was to get a third of the herd, and his youngest son, still with
plenty of time to make his fortunes, was to get just one ninth.
Unfortunately, the herd consisted of 17 camels, and the brothers could see no
way to honour their father’s wishes without killing at least one of the beasts and
chopping it into chunks. The lawyer, however, had a better idea. Without any loss
to himself, and without involving a fifth party, he was able to show the brothershow
the herd could be divided equally, keeping all the camels alive. a
How did he do it? :

ARABIA
c. 400AD
Sm EE ANSWER 51
 pe ee ee

The Snail and the Well puzzle first appeared in India, with the great Jain
eats: ‘mathematicians. Its earliest appearance dates to some time after the work of the
fe ¢ elebrated 7thcentury mathematicians Bhaskara and Brahmagupta.
~ Asnailisatthebottom
of awell 4% feet deep. On the first day it climbs two feet,
and then slips back down one foot during the night. It is getting tired however, and
ee so each subsequent day, it climbs 10% less that it did the day before. It always slips
down
ee
the same one foot at night. Will
thesnail ever get outofthe well, and ifso, when? iretrncei

Sf ee GP OOAD e
 Fh
¥
&

eer,

omSf
prerenemer
Ben
at

ae
Pee: 5 ae e
aie Sonik é Le ee

ye 3 Alcuin of York was a religious scholar and teacher in DatkAgeEurope. F

g student at the great school of York, which was founded in:6 $e
|
ae of York. The school, now called St. Peter’’s, isthe world’s |
* time around 750 AD, Alcuin assumed ;a teaching role te
headmaster in 767 AD. As well asthe obviousreligious sst liesthe schoo!
of the liberal arts and sciences, which included logic and mathemat ‘al subjject
Alcuin of York is thought to be theauthor of thePropositiones ad Acnende s f !
(Propositions for Sharpening Yout
ee oneofthefirst books of eee lected
for teaching or recreation. The ‘oldest
i
surviving
Sy
copydates to the end vets
ofnc= Othe:
- 1 eee

= ee hte
3S
century. “é se eae oe Z Pade <r ee
One of Alcuin of York'spacientes from
Gi theBipeshione leas
an early
example of what is now known as thejeepproblem. A certain head of a household —
ordered that 90 modia of grain be taken from oneof his houses to another, 30 leagues —
away. Given that this load must be carriedin:three trips(the camel can manage 30_
ry modia as a maximum load), and that the camel must eat onee modius jper league, how >
many modia can be left over at the end of the pee 6s Sx :

7/0ADS
 Ror SMe Meee,
nerinnanne
TM Mix RU SER en ee if

Phe ; eo 2s St be ea te
© 5 ay ae
Several of Alcuin of York’s problems remain popular and influential today iones \;
ee ee
form or another. Possibly the best known of these is this puzzle, where three brother 2 8
and sister pairs need to get across ariver in a small boat, but to stop themen’s lusts
overcoming them, a woman may only be in the presence of a man if he isher brother, hoe
>
or if her brother is present. ; BORE gare IO rie
There were three men, each having an unmarried sister, who needed to cross a tivenes. S
. Each man was desirous ofhis friends’ sisters. Coming to the river, they found only peas ep
- small boat in which only two persons could cross at a time. Let them say, theywho are
SS able, how did they cross the river, so that none of the sisters were defiled by themen? ~ a
Z Given the dubious assumption that all men would be happy to rape their friends’ ‘
_ sisters given a moment’ chance, the best solution takes 11 crossings.
ke What is the process?

Sige

..

WTS
SSS

HY,
oe |
 ENE Gee eet Ns -
oe.ee osoaptision: 12, Alcuin of York describes a situation where flasks
= containir g three different volumes of oil are to be divided equally:among three sons a
eS sothateach‘gets the same. Sy
we Affather dies and leaves his three sons 30 flasks. 10 ofthese are full of oil, 10 are
a
: seees full, and 10 are empty. Divide the oil and flasks so thatan equal share of both
i epae: to each son. *

Aid well and good. But is it possible to do this so that ‘each son gets a different
taicision of flasksto the other two, and each son gets at least one of each rype =
Ne am of flask? he

SEEANSWERS5 ~ °° -
%,
 Another of Alcuin of York’s problems asks the reader to solve a problem of
indeterminacy. A certain merchant in the East wished to buy 100 assorted animals
for 100'solidi. He ordered his servant to pay five solidi per camel, one solidus per
ass; and one solidus per 20 sheep, and to get at least one of each. Let them say,
they who wish, how many camels,asses and sheep were obtained for 100 solidi?
~

; 770AD SEE ANSWER 56

 SF nate reae nce ae
ra
e “ThisisProposition 32, Concerning the Head of a Certain Household. Alcuin of
_ York gives adistribution problem as a way of encouraging his students to work
around issues ofindeterminate conditions. He actually gives several such problems,
_ varying mainly in the amount of grain, which rather reinforces that he wanted the
icstudents to learn the knack of solving problems of this sort.
A head of a certain household has 20 servants. He ordered them to be given 20
modia of corn as follows: the men should receive 3 modia, the women 2 modia, and
the children, half a modium. Let them say, they who can, how many men, women
rs
and children must there have been. d
You should assume that there is at least one of each. oo
®
: % A Aleaof
York’sDid
d Paspetigen Goiteria the Ladder Having 100 Steps, was
a famously, ven to a young Johann Gauss, a German scientist who remains known as
one of the most influential mathematical figures iin history. Gauss was only seven at
; the time, which dates the event to1784 AD. Itis said that by the time the teacher
had Gane instructing the class in i the- problem, Gauss had the solution.
There is a ladder which has 100 steps. One dove sat on the first step, two doves on
the second, three on the third, four on the fourth, five on the fifth, and so on up to
"the hundredth step. How many doves were there in all?

| 770AD SEE ANSWER 58

a 4
Facies to revitalise the school at his court.In this fee
of Europe’s leading nobles, scholars aridecclesiasts, rraining et
sciences, and becoming friendly wichmoseof them.
Alcuin posed the following Fiddle to
Bae Archbishog
Damoeta, in return fora gift: —oe— 2 * t
BO itl bes oe
A beast has sudden comneed this my house, _
A beast of wonder, who two headssieeach g
And yet the beast has onlyo:
one jaw-bone, re
Twice three times ten of horeidteeth ithas. ‘
Its food grows always on this bodofnmine, ~
Not flesh, fruit. It eats not withit
it ‘teeth, pees:
Drinks not. Its open mouth shows no aoe afee
Tell me, Damoeta dear, what beast isthis? —
a,

Ridulf had the advantage of kenonans te angiehe hi astsent

t Alcuin. Can you
identify the ‘beast’ without that inside knowledge? x

ry
*

SEE ANSWER 59
 ensaeoF ge as: ap f

“Titus Flavius ORchswas a Jewish war- ded ee the first Jewish-Roman war,
re 73AD..‘He was captured by the Romans in 67AD, and persuaded to work as
a negotiator for them. He mage ee the fallofJerusalem in 70AD, and became a
Roman historian shortly afterwards.
During his capture, Josephus says as he found himself trapped in a cave with 40
companions. The Romans asked him to surrender, but his men refused to allow it,
opting instead for collective suicide. They formed:a circle and killed each other one
by one, killing the third man each time and closing the circle’s ranks. By claimed
happenstance, Josephus was in the correct place to be the last man alive, and he
~ persuaded the man before him, the second to last, to surrender with him.
This historical event became the object of mathematical speculation, first
_appearing as a puzzle in an Irish text from around 800AD. If Josephus started
in position number 31 in the circle of 41, where would his surviving compatriot
have been?
Ireland
c. 800AD SEE ANSWER 60
 ear hem
a ee

booed
Or hed

PROBLEM
ne
ete

eeeo ee provides anfiatelesiag counterpoint to it.

explorer in the desert wishes to arrive at an oasis as darkness is falling, so that
s tees“he doeshothave tto sit around in the heat, nor will he risk
missing the oasis in the
_-» darkness. From his current position, if he rides at 10 miles an hour, he will arrive an
~ hour after darkness has fallen. Ifhe rides at 15 miles an hour, he will arrive an hour
eet soon, and swelter. At what speed should he ride to reach the oasisat sunset? a,
z 6

SEE ANSWER 61
%,
 A highly influential 9th century Indian aghast ey
established the impossibility of discovering the square root of a negative number,©
described a method for discovering lowest common multiples, made several key—
advances in geometry, ahd disentangled mathematics and astrology, setting thems ¢
ground for Indian mathematics — afiekity sophisticated — to develop even further, oi
In his 850AD treatise Ganit Saar Sangraha, the Mathematical Digest, Mahaveera
posed this question which still regularly appears in puzzle compendiums and _
newspaper entertainment pages today. . pe
Three sailors and their pet monkey find themselves shipwreckeck ona small desert
island. They immediately set to gathering a pile of coconuts, and when darkness
falls, they decide to divide the coconuts in the morning. During the night however,
~~ one sailor awakes and decides to take his third early. He divides the pile into threes,
Pg, with one coconut left over, which he gives to the monkey. He then hides his third,
Bg Sie and piles the.
c remaining coconuts back together again. Later, another sailor awakes
ee eezand does exactly the same, again finding that when he divides the pile into three,
sok 5theste isone coconut left to give to the monkey. Finally the third sailor follows suit,
again with onecoconut left for the monkey. In the morning, the sailors awake, and
: oO _ agreeably divide the pile of coconuts remaining into three. Once more, there is one
ee - deftover, which they give to the monkey.
| What iisthe least number of ¢coconuts that there shuld have been to begin with?
ate e

a sia
c. 850AD SEE ANSWER 62
Abu Kamil, an Egyptian mathematician \
who lived etween 850 30AD, wi
a dedicated algebraist who earned himself the nickname al-peer ayBa
Egyptian Calculator”. In his Bookof‘Precious Things ini the Art of. ckoning, he? cae
laments the fact that many puzzles have
| multiple possible answers, an people tend
not to realize this. He gives the example ofi puzzle, wineryproves tohave far
more answers than generally recognized. Ses <= %
It is a reasonably straightforward indeterminate problem: you must ~buy
100 birds using exactly 100 -drachmas.. Ducks cost 2 drachmas each, Hens ‘are
1 drachma, a dove is % drachma, a ringdove_ ists drachma, and alarkis % drachma._
de
You need to buy at least one of each. How manyof each do you buy? es
It’s not too tricky to get an answer for. If you want a real challenge though, also. :
work out how many possible solutions there are.
 x Pe

Leofric, the first bishop of Exeter, assumed his lofty position in 1050AD. An mong
other acts, he donated a large book of poems and riddles to the cathedal WER,The |
Exeter Book, as it is now.known, is the largest surviving collection of Old‘English. a
literature. The author or Aeasileriis unknown, but the date of its creation is thought % — 5
to have been in the second half of the 10th century. Riddle 25 of the Exerer Book has
become well-known. See what you make ofit. ‘

"I am a wondrous creature: to women a thing of desire; to neighbours serviceable. I

harm no city-dweller, except my slayer alone. My stalk is erect and tall — I stand up
in bed - and shaggy down below (I won't say where). Sometimes a countryman’s
comely daughter will venture, proud girl, to get a grip on me. She assaults my
redness, plunders my head, and fixes me ina tight place. The one who afflicts me so,
ne: this woman wap curly locks, will soon feel the effect of her encounter with me — an
eyee willbe tee

7
ABS England
c. 9S0AD SEE ANSWER 64
 (DARING)
= Se ne
ae fsP iecatesine riddleis found in the Exeter Book, Leofric’s
cee toExeter Cathedral

a ee <
os
os ” Library onhisassumpeion in 1OSOAD. ¥

Se es Often Iimust warv

with waves, fight the wind — *
—
j Strive with both at the same time—when I depart to seek
ate.
the earth beneath the waters. To me, my home is alien.»
2 lt Iam strong in the struggle, if Ican hold my ground,”
~ Should Igen back, even a little, my foes are stronger, ch .
and, wrenching me away, soon force me to flee, :
stealing away the treasure that I must keep safe.
"will forbid this so long as my tail endures,
and the stones have power against my strength.
WhatamIcalled? —
 ue
/ The‘images
im

ah

ee

first
aie: to have nilpcath oad 1000AD.
How arethe wheels used, and how dotngs to the YamAtArAjabhAnasalagAm?
€ SF ‘ gm tyne a é ae oe

ie
ye India
oe®ceT000AD SEE ANSWER 66
ik ey SPO EY Re aa
pone a, atin EDT ee MSoe . tae
 4, Se "Travelling mathematics teacher Zhu ‘Shijie |was one of the
ig
iets i greatest Chinese mathematicians ofthe middle ages era. [wo
eof his Gales have made it through to modern times, the 1299AD Introduction
eee Studies, and 1303's Jade Mirror of|theFour Unknowns. The

Ect die other techniques and innovationsa5,the Jade Mirror, Shijie

ee a mathe matical tool known as Jia Xian’s Triangle, used to solve. :
complex polynomial equations. The Triangle dated back to around 1050AD,firey
appearing in a work called Shi Suo Suan Shu by the mathematician JiaXian. TheaES
Triangle predates several iimportant European mathematical discoveries, and firstcs
discovery may have been as early as SOOBC in India. 2 ak
How is it derived and, in the West, better known?
 4
A Bk ib hes s
. . 5 wes, “ we: Eker % i
Riddles have been an important part of oral cultures worldwide for centuries. Try. ‘3 ‘ %e
; ee eS.
this one: SE aa ss shal SU ‘s
ve
sb ce seer gon %
? af ot 33 e £ ; :
4 eee ee ae E os 5

Thoughough I’mI'm of ofgreat age, es en: 5Gon IESAE eee

NG |
I’m held in a cage, > e% eee ® |
And have a long tail and one ear. t
My mouth it is round, |

And when joys abound,

Oh, then I sing beautiful clear.

:
|
}
x ae
at el Wy ot
” - z
ae . ™ ne . 7 ie i
age s Me
Pf

zt
bi

ee
sat

ye 2 ri
eae nee”
Raeee £3, ay
MEAS A
oe ae RS 4 e
GE 23 rae
% = TOR, % ? Rass ‘
< es hs Lo
fade Pag ee A
ve ” ”
ry age Aa
ue 3 + ¥e
OE nk
42° fl

oat?
:

‘c. 1200AD SEE ANSWER 68

ee Sik,
Bey

Se ee SS
 oH CHEE i
as

oi igs: Se

Lae
This is a simple, well-known: puzzle, ticiahasrs
its genesisin 13
implications have pe See ible 8

month after their birth. — a ia

eere:2 ‘
How many pairs of rabbitscntsnap
in one yer
<9
itS
4

i.
“ _ SEE ANSWER 69
 In 1202, Leonardo of Pisa introduced the Hindu-Arabic number an Rn ae
in his book Liber Abaci, the Book of Calculation. Fibonacci,as he is now usually .
known, travelled around southern Europe and north Africa studying with thegreatest de & 7
Arab mathematicians of the time, and became one of the greatest mathematical ee %.
minds of the Middle Ages. ao pi ee S: aes
Liber Abaciexplained the decimal system, gave clear instructions on multiplication. =
and fractions, and showed how the Hindu-Arabic system related to the full range of +
commercial transactions — and, more to the point, how it made them much simpler “See
than with Roman numerals. It had a huge effect on European thought, and pavedthe g :
way for the Renaissance, and the growth of European culture &

In the Liber Abaci, Fibonacci describes a game which mathematically adept Bests
can use to impress and confound their guests. The guests sit in a line, and one of
them chooses a ring he or she is wearing. This person takes their position in the
line, doubles it, adds 5, multiplies by 5, and then adds 10 to this total. Then the
. number of the ring-finnger across the two hands is counted and added, and the value ;
ismultiplied by 10. Finally, a number for the knuckle joint is added on. Obviously, S
both hosts and
a guests have to agree on the numbering in advance!‘“When this
_ numberges
is as Fibonacci says, “it isis
easy to pinpoint the ring.” Ps

= ~

Italy
1202AD SEE ANSWER 70
> ee ee me Peas ees
*Perenemendacitemetoncn stot bcc NRE aR ma SOIC Pager SAA
eC RARE otxs | SERRE mere SIO eee
pets spot arn
4 mo
higher tower? *

if

Italy :‘4z
1202AD +
ie
i
ENR
?
AARTAGLI » + 4
eae
a ae Ks ce
a ee
ed a

; Rig
en
eae
Se me

Niccolo Fontana was a 16th century Venetian mathematicianoo ohi

He became known as Tartaglia, “The Stammerer’, after receiving a savage : *;
to his mouth and tongue during the French massacre of his birth-townee atif r - weer
He was just twelve. Essentially ae taught, Tartaglia went on to publish a host.on POA ee re
books, including very important translations of Euclid and Archimedes. gee* : man en
In his works, Tartaglia published a measuring puzzle that first appeared iin the : pee
writings of the Abbot of the Convent of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in. Stade, Rear mot,
Hamburg, around 1240. The puzzle remains well-known and popular today. © yes
You have three jugs which can hold 8, 5 and 3 pints of wine respectively. The largest +
one is full, and the other two are empty. Without spilling any wine, or using any Poe

other tools, it is possible to end up with two equal four-pint portions.

fa
Pas
=

#3A *at
Bs
stent

Ifone
Nee

- Germany
c. 1240AD SEE ANSWER 72
 : ieee pee ee ; 2
a: we S NG er ois 0 :
This traditional English riddle looks simple until you think about it: <
6 eo Ae
eaten a
< :
What is.it that walks all day on its head? ae
e*
>-

England |
c. 1300AD
-

MAA
= ALR) A meEE GR?" moras
CIEEcones RMS
= KS yen
neet 2 eS
proennt
 3

Old Mother Twitchett hadjust one eye, we

And a dangling tail which she let fly.

Every time she leaped over a gap,
She caught a bit of her tail in a trap.

England
c. 1400AD SEE ANSWER 74
 Rtg

ie4
Pek
PSone anges to.

WA
i SR MR? sen eee

ae ak ogFd
shee 3 pone ey
tec te OP

Pe y Suen a
An interesting traditional dl
Ti
a ABz ae
a

€ *
I run through woods and fields
Sit under the bed at night in co
With my long tongue hangir
a
Waiting only to be fed. |

Ge rmany
a,

c. 1450AD * SEE ANSWER 75 ©

 ee
une
The 15th century German astrologer and mathematician ae nus was
celebrated scholar even in his own lifetime. He was said to have fashioned. a
made of wood which was able to fly from the city under its own power, st ee o“
salute the emperor, andreturn again. His interest in astrology and astronomy gave ae ee
him great insight into trigonometric mathematics, and Copernicus consi ered himSe ay
an influential inspiration: Regiomontanus’ angle problem was devised to reinforce ‘S carsiat
certain geometric principles. Ti 2 wal oo sig he og
Suppose there is a painting hanging from a wall, its base above eye level. Ifo
one stands -
_too far away, the painting appears small. If one stands too close, it is foreshortened.
In fact, there is just one point at which the viewer gets the maximumexposuretothe
painting, the place which maximises the angle formed between the top of the frame,
_ the viewer's eyes and the bottom of the frame.
_ Where iis it?

_ Germany 8
“c. 1460AD SEE ANSWER76
 ‘3
Sle
T
s :nce
SEOtaketh
cet
Pf

eS nae
im a ae
The issue of the Problemob-Poines caeto a hypotbetictt: situation Peele = .

Fra. Luca Pacioli, an Italian mathematician and priest, in 1494. Piney cherae.
game in which two players were competing. Each had an equal chance.-ofwinning —
any given round, and agreedin advance that theoverall winner ofX fhany ponds.ee
would collect the prize. eee Fog a Bee
3s
But what happens if the game isinterrupted beicie it isfinished? How:could the
players divide the pot fairly, Ee account the state of play at the time?
ee & - Flee
ae.

_ SEE ANSWER77
“aa 3, me ¥,
ca oe f “ ? ae <2
= x iar? eee, iy
Sie?
Ea tradition hasthisriddle to offer: x.
> % OS Be Ste Feee we Te a . ie
eee? oi am within as.white as snow, ; , al ie
a | Withour’as green as herbs that FOS Me * '
lam higher than a house, — ; 5; Kage
and yetam lesser than a mouse.
; g Maes of
é oe oo
5 oe
‘: ss

England
c.1500AD SEE ANSWER 78
EMR
name Ts
isan op AN
to
 Ne .
‘

>= the
i 2 pe imearicPines and nee eatimportant works on artistic
oe
: neSaf ay es ‘Se
eM One «
of Durer’s greatest works is an allegorical engraving titled Melencolia lL =
Pos ee ~The» piece is laden with symbolism and hidden meaning, and remains one of the =
BS ae "most hotly-debated and analysed prints today. In Melencolia I, aa most incredible >
Fe ies <a Magic‘Square hangs on the wall behind the main figure. In it, the rows, columns and a xe
} em, diagonals alladd to ao and the two panies: at bottom ae are also aaemate

es ~ Consider j
just the number éfdifferent ways chav this
‘square
: four groups of four numbers, usingallthe numbers,inth nee
each of the Baty sums to 34, How many
1 al
arethere ~jae

1514AD ee _ SEE ANSWER 79

This medieval Spanish riddle poses an‘interesting intellectual challenge.
Itis yours. You create it. You give it to Anos, who treasures it and holds it close.
You keep iti still, as you value yonannd me ee
© What is it? kg

Spain
c. 1525AD SEE ANSWER 80
German mathematician Christof Rudolf ofAugsburg was the first faxopen to it ote

draw attention to the Chinese useofdecimal notation in i maths, in L5SQAD, and

he also coined the use of the square 1root symbol, possibly as a stylised ‘r’from the
Latin word for a square root, ‘radix’ Hewwas also the first person to pose the Clock
Striking Problem: ps
How many times does a clock's chime strike between 1noon and midnight? You may
assume that the clock strikes only the hour, that it is 12- hour rather than 24-hour, and
that the times are inclusive.
 \ \y

_
<aAN
SSSusoses

: isisap cn
‘ linear indeterminacy, harking back to an Sth century Hindu problem.
; A group of 41 people — men, women and children — have been dining at an inn.

“4 Pe

Getinany
pce SA0AD
 > This is an interesting variant of the Josephus problem ae surfaced in
mae
Austria, and gained enough popularity to spread through’Rurope. A
It is said that an inn landlord hosts a dinner for 21 friends and ami
reasonably well to do, they agree that one member of the¢ grou
f bill for the evening. That person is to bedecided by fortune. When thet .
Mi to leave, the landlord’s barman willstart somewhere in the group ond oestante = es
4 counting them in a clockwise direction, with every seventh person counted fr ree fo ee
leave the table. When there is but one left,he will pay for the evening. Es One ae Sa
The barman, however, holds something ofagsrudge against his master. He deeidits sng OR a
to make sure that it is his boss who agup footing dl thebill,Where does Herpeed to nae
: start his count? $s ashe eh chi e < ma
Cee * . : , ‘
t : é

4 ae ¥

Austria
71 550A Das ~ SEE ANSWER83
 44 a <j

* Louis XIV, is remembered as the ruler who oversaw the heights

: ‘monarchy’s trend towards luxury and self-indulgence. His father,
ie Louis XII was the king whom the Cardinal de Richlieu served as prime minister,
B : at the time’of the setting of Dumas’ ‘The Three Musketeers. This riddle dates from
4 Se _ that period, although coeal gi n ishese more modest in nature than some of
the excesses of the time. j
What goes around the house andinto Ys house without ever touching the
Sates ie a
house?>

France
c. l|GOOAD SEE ANSWER 84
SEM Me
 . Ae
eae
French mathematician Claude Bachet iis probably
he rsferis |
of the book Arithmetic bythe Greek scholar Dera t
marginal note in a copy of this volume that revealed the wor
problem of Fermat's Last Theorem. But Bacherset oa portant: in ow!
too, and he made important contri utions nsin.number theory and ot er‘areas,eee Cee
In 1612, at the ageof31,Bachet sede akof pate a 2 ie = eae
curiosities, Problemes Plaisants. He re-iss
ssuedj in|1624, in a revised andexpanded a ae
form. In the larger Problemes, heec posed
Lheinterestingpete me Sera
ie tice huge Os aw 4 a

Ifyou have a pair of scales,whatissfetaaleestier of weights eke to measure

the weight of any other object that hasan
se oe weight ofbetween 1 and 40? A
y ee BS ‘ ia * “A
Tas % gty ‘ Sai ae %

1624AD
Prince Rupert, Duke of Bavaria was the younger son ofa Bavarian hable house i
in the
17th century. He was at various times a soldier, a pirate, an artist, an inventorrand a , =

businessman, rising to considerable levels of achievement in several of those areas.

He eventually financed the creation of the Hudson Bay Company, andwas itsfirst
director.
Imagine a cube with a hole cut through it that leaves the cube in one single piece.
Do you imagine that the largest cube able to pass through such a hole would be
larger, the same size or smaller than the cube with the hole cut into it?

Bavaria
-c. 1670AD SEE ANSWER 86

ea ae sae srs
 4:
aoy
*

TT
TTT
PO
RS
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dice rolls had the greatest odds of success. These were to roll six dice and get at least :
\, one 6, to roll twelve dice and get at least two 6s,and to roll eighteen dice and get at is
| Ee least three 6s. pees BRE Ke .
a Which is more likely? pete eco: se ‘ ;

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England 1
1693AD > : SEE ANSWER 87”
 Dae - 2 ‘ae si sf
This riddle was pypalar!in Germany at the end of the 17th century .a6‘sRay: Me
+ oe ae$ if?
There were five men Roping to the church one Sunday. The heavenssof « Ride i
started to rain. The four men who went for cover all got wet. The one man who did fe
not move remained dry. How? ; Saeed ik

Germany
c. 1700AD SEE ANSWER 88
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KONIGSBER
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Konigsberg was founded in 1255AD by crusader Knightsas a paseRae 8

and swiftly grew in importance to become the capital of East Prussia, finally being —
incorporated into the German Empire in 1871. It was taken over byche USSR in
ine a

1945, and is now the Russian city of Kaliningrad. sl Pye oe

The Prussian city of Kénigsberg straddled the river Pregel, and cheee were two.
large, built-up islands in the river connected to each other and the two banks by
a set of bridges. It became a matter of near-legendary dispute amongst locals (and
visitors) as to whether it was possible to walk through the city crossing each bridge, :
as shown below, once and only once.
The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler finally proved in 1736 that it was
impossible. What was his reasoning?
. As an aside, it maybe interesting to know that one of the bridges was rebuilt in
~ 1935, two were destroyed in World War II and not rebuilt, and two more were
_ replaced with a linked. piece of highway after the war. So there are now five bridges,
Ae only:two. of which are antique. A Euler walk is now possible though, albeit one that
beginson one island and ends on the other.
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1736AD SEE ANSWER 90
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 RN ENS wai)

2 he probeFest semicedin the pages ofasocietydiges,presumably as a practical

_ query onta livestock owner. stey Pool as
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we > “ k
A <2

Imagine you have a circular field, You want to tiethe goat to the fence surrounding
the field, and leave it enough slack‘sothat it can gtaze half of the area of the field.
Should the tether be equal to theradius of the field, shorter than the radius, or
x 2
longer than the radius? ‘ AU ts we ahs

United Kingdom
~ 1748AD SEE ANSWER 92.
tate ie :
at truly astounding 1method for approximating pi was discovered by Georges-Louis
ee
5 «£4 Peele rc, Comte de Buffon, an 18th century French mathematician and naturalist.
fe, eS — Thettechnique derived from a question that Buffon posed in one of his books: if a
at ae ~ flooris made up of parallel, equal-width strips of wood, what is the probability that
a needle, dropped onto the floor, will cross one of the seams?
- The solution to the problem turns out to be reasonably straightforward, albeit a
bit tricky to get to. The probability P that the needle will cross a seam depends on
| the needle’s length, L, and the distance between seams, d. Given these, the answer _
Se, turns out to be P = #4/pira. You can simplify this by making sure that theneedle isthe
same length as the space between seams, in which case P = */pi, and therefore pi =7/ ne
which broken down, means pi = 2 * (hemmber oft! shows) / (ake siumber of throws where theneedle crosses
; aseam). Inother words, amazingly, you can work out pi just bytossing alot of needles oe.
ie _ onto a floor and counting how many cross seams. _ = Sst Se 0s!
But why? -

France © “f
1777AD SEEANSWER93
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This is a eudie from 19th century America: ae

I am snatched roughly from my home underground,

Locked ina prison of cruelwood. no
I will never be released, yet
I remain useful to all of you, and so
I may be found in all manner of places.
Who am I? > a

United states of America :

c. 182009 SCE ANSWER95
 Ne BLIND
ABBOT
The Victorian era saw the development of large middle classes — with middle class
obsessions — on both sides of the Atlantic. Puzzles and prurience were both in high
fashion, as this puzzle shows.
In a conyent, there were 24 monks of dubious piety abelvirtue, and an old,
blind abbot. The convent had 9 chambers, laid out in a square. The abbot stayed
in the centre, and the monks were chambered in groups of three in the remaining _ 4
eight chambers. At night, the abbot would make rounds of the cells, counting the
inhabitants. Provided he found nine monks in each line of three cells, he was satisfied
that all was well.
The monks, taking advantage of his mathematical naivety, quickly discovered how
to not only arrange themselves so that six of their number could sneak out to the
nearby town, but even contrived to smuggle in a dozen ladies of dubious reputation.
The abbot, finding his count at nine heads per row each time, was none the wiser. _
How did they do it?

United States of America

@. 18500D SCE ANSWER 96
 He GapTive
QUEEN
-

Lewis Carroll had a great fondness for puzzles and riddles of all sorts, from the most
physically rooted through to themathematically abstract. The puzzle of the Captive
Queen harks back somewhat to the early a of Alcuin of York, but Ay a)its
own fiendishly Carrollesque twist.
A queen and her children, one son and one dhighes are held captive in he top
of a very tall tower. There is a pulley outside the window, over which runs a rope
attached to an identical large basket at either end. When one basket is resting on the
ledge outside the window, the other is on the ground. The queen weights 195lbs,
her daughter 105]bs, her young son 90lbs, and they havea stone in the room, which
weighs 75 pounds. The heavier basket will naturally sink to the ground, but if the _
weight discrepancy between the two baskets is greater oe 15lbs, the descent will
prove fatal to any living occupant.
How can the queen and her children escape?

United Kingdom
Cc.
OO . SEE ANSWER 97
This is one of Lewis Carroll’s puzzles, and poses a seeming ae: mathematical
question. — i ti
Picture an oblong garden, halfa yard longer thaniitis wide. theentirersaplece of the
garden is taken up with a gravel pathway, arranged in arectangular spiral. The ah is
1 yard wide, and 3,630 yards long. How wide is the garden? .

5
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dnited Kingdom |
e. 1850N®D SEE ANSWER 98
 beats

IGHT QUEENS

In 1848, German chess puzzle master Max Bezzel posed a tricky question whose —
ramifications have been engrossing mathematicians and puzzle experts ever since.
The challenge is to place eight queens on a regular 8x8 chess board so that none
of them can attack any of the others - in other words, so that there is no vertical,
horizontal or diagonal line that holds more than one queen.
Can you do it?

Germany
1848AND
 Sy
Jf,
|3

SSN,

HE DINNER
PARTY
One of Lewis Carroll’s better known and more convoluted puzzles involves the small
imaginary nation of Kgoyjni. One evening, the Governor of Kgovjni decides to throw
avery small dinner party. To this end, he invites his father’s brother-in-law, his brother’s
father-in-law, his father-in-law’s brother, and his brother-in-law’s father.
How many guests are there?

)
United Kingdom
e. 18500D SEE ANSWER 100
; OSs "ie 2 SS Pelee
 H E M O N K E Y A N D
THE PULLEY
Lewis Carroll ndaiser this piizles: to illustrate the workings |of momentum
andforce. : :
Imagine that heseis aweightless, certectly AexiBle rope strung over a frictionless
pulleyattached to a solid surface ata point higher off the floor than the ropeislong.
A monkey iis hangingon to one end of the rope. A weight is hanging ofac other
end, horizontally level with the monkey, perfectly balancing it.
What happens when the monkey starts to climb towards the pulley wellthe
weight rise, fall or staypull’ :

United Kingdom a) .
C} aes. | SCE ANSWER IO
 IRKMAN’S
SCHOOLGIRDS-
Thomas Kirkman was an English mathematician during the Victorian era who made
a number of important contributions in the field of group theory. In The Lady’s and j
Gentleman’ Diary in 1850, he posed his Schoolgirl problem, for which he is best-
known nowadays. aig
Fifteen young women are attending a school. They go for a daily walk in groups of
three. Can they be arranged so that over the course of seven days, they never walk
with the same person twice, and if so, can you work out how?

United Kingdom
7 185070
 3%
gs =Saaa

The Caratteeti Bill pumidi¢appckel in William Henry Srclaees“The Magician's:

Own Book, a handbook of conjuring and sleight of hand published iin 1857.
A man goes into a hat shop to buy atop hat,presumably to produce his white_
rabbit from. The hat costs $6.30, and the man pays with a $10 bill. Some time after _
his departure, the hatter discovers to . dismay that the bill isa
i ie How much.
money has he lost? i game SO ay a
: i seat ‘ be

United States ofAmerica fe le 3 Gas

Nahin: Nt See HSER IO5 m
 TE TRAVELLING
aTbCoMAN
William Hamilton invented a puzzle called Around The World in 1859 which
required the player to visit every node on a grid once and once only — in contrast to ite
a Euler walk, in which the task is to visit every edge once and once only. Hamilton’s
first version was rather simplistic, but the idea has gone on to attract alot of attention
in the years since. This type of problem is now often known as a Travelling Salesman
problem, from the idea that a salesman would not want to visit a town twice in close
succession.
Is it possible to find a route on this graph that lets you visit each node once and
once only, missing out one or more lines if you wish?

United States of America

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 114

THIOPIIN
Sy MATHEMATICS
Although modern mathematical technique seems so natural to us as to be obvious,
its familiarity is the result of our upbringing, and the problem of dealing with —
numbers has been solved repeatedly in human history. A recollection from the turn
of the 19th century graphically illustrated an approach used in ancient Ethiopia, as
well as a range of different places around the world.
An army colonel was accompanying a local headman on a trip which included
buying some cattle. The headman wanted to purchase 7 bulls, at a cost of $22 each.
_ Lacking a formalised ssystem of decimal multiplication, the headman and the herder
sent for a local priest to calculate the total price. ;
~The priest had his assistant dig two parallel columns of holes. In the first column,
he put seven stones, for the number of bulls, in the first hole, and then doubled the
number of stones for each subsequent hole—
-— 14, 28,56 and 112. In the second column,
he put 22 stones for the price of one bull in —
the first hole, and then halved the number of
stones for each subsequent hole, rounding
down - 11,5, 2 and 1.
_ Considering even values to be evil, the
priest went down the second column, and
any time he found an even number of stones
-- 22 and 2, in this instance -- he removed
the stones from that hole, and from the
first column hole next to it (7 and 56
respectively). Then he added the remaining
stones in the first column, which came to
154, which is indeed 22 *7.
This method will always work. But why?

a6
Ethiopia
c. tere SCE ANSWER
105
 ANTOR’S
INFINITIES
|
| Georg Cantor was a German mathematician, born in 1845. He created set theory,
| which has become one of the fundamental theoretical underpinnings of modern
mathematics. Logical exploration of set theory quickly took him into explorations
of infinity, and during his 30s, he published a series of ground-breaking proofs
regarding infinite sets. Many of them do not make intuitive sense.
Consider the set of all natural numbers, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ... and so on. The set is trivially
provable as infinite - assume a maximum number X, then add 1 to it, and it is no
longer the maximum. Now consider the set of all even numbers, 2, 4, 6, 8, ... This is
provably infinite, too.
Which is larger?

ee
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Germany
 i & xe
oe : ia ie a
This Victorian riddle remains relevant today:
EE re 5 aber
of ge epee
ese ial Be ig Se eibu is

I never was, am always to be, a het A AGES

No-one has ever or will yet meet me,

But I am the confidence ofall on pe
_ Who
‘i live and breathe: on our spinning ball.
7 aes fe
tet, Who and?
iveRep
<a ane rogers
% 8 Fes

oT v.

SRS
SMMAOQVNo

United Kingdom ;‘ : i: es,

c. 188001D SCE AINSWERIO7
 CSSCRACT

The tesseract was first conceived of in 1888 by the mathematician and sci-fi writer
Charles Howard Hinton. Hinton had a strong interest in multi-dimensional
thinking, and even coined the now-common terms ‘ana’ and ‘kata’ for movement
into and out of the fourth dimension, parallel to left and right, up and down, and
forward and backward. a Gen ; .
A tesseract is a four-dimensional hypercube, a cube which has a cube on each ofits
faces. That’s obviously impossible to visualise accurately as a human, but the diagram
shown here is a two-dimensional representation of it. Look at it for a while, and
youllspot a group of cubes in perspective view, jumbled together in there. a ¢
When you number the vertexes of this particular depiction of a tesseract as
shown, you can then use the resulting pattern to very quickly generate a number of
pandiagonal 4-order magic squares.
How?
In his 1889 work on probability, French mathematician Joseph Bertrand devised
this interesting problem that has come to be known as Bertrand’s Box.
Imagine that there are three boxes. One box contains two gold coins, one contains
two silver coins, and one contains one gold and one silver. The boxes are mixed up,
and you draw a coin at random from one of them. The coin you receive is gold.
What is the chance that the other coin in the same box is also gold?

“.

Franeg
1889AD SCE ANSWER 109
ae ae.
 OTHING LOST

This paradoxical brain-teaser was often inflicted on Victorian school children.

Forty-five can be subtracted from forty-five in such as way as to leave forty-five as
a remainder. But how?

eb -45=457
&,.

United Kingdom
ec. 18900'D SCE Manistee 0
 G Y
HOTEL
David Hilbert was born in KénigsberginGermany — the city of the famous Seven.
Bridges problem (see page 99) - in 1862. He became one of the most important
mathematicians of the early 20th century, and made a number of fundamental
discoveries and methodological breakthroughs. a i te
In the Paradox of the Grand Hotel, Hilbert suggested a theoretical hotel with an
infinite number of rooms, each of them occupied. Suddenly, an infinite number of
guests turn up, demandingtobe accommodated. The proprietor of the hotel (some _
have suggested that he ought to be VALIS, after Philip K. Dick’s infinite being)
announces that hecan indeed do so. _
But how? an

Germany
1S95AD.
e
 INC/WATER
PROBLEM
This puzzle, formalised by the Victorian mathematician W. W. R. Ball in his book
Mathematic Recreations, was one of Lewis Carroll’s favourites.
Imagine that you have two barrels holding equal volumes of wine and water.
A cup of wine is taken and poured into the water, and mixed thoroughly. Then an
identical cup of the wine/water mix is poured back into the wine, restoring both
barrels to their previous volume, and again mixed thoroughly.
Which of the mixtures will be the purer?

NS
a
iai
SED
ee
IP
ee

United Kingdom
a
ee
~a——.
189671 SEE ANSWER 112
ceri en |
“e
 Tie BARBER
PARADOX
Betrand Russell was an extremely influential British philosopher, mathematician
and social reformer. A fierce humanitarian and anti-war campaigner, he won
the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950, at the age of 78, for his philosophical and
humanist work, As a philosopher, Russell believed in the application of logic to
thought, and the utility of common sense and plain language in philosophical
discourse. Suppose that there is a village with just one barber, a man. All the men
of the village are required to be clean-shaven. Some shave themselves; the others
are required to make use of the barber, who is obligated to shave only all those
_men who do not shave themselves.
Who shaves the barber?

United King
(O: OCT? See ANSWER IIs
7 |5 ae
 NY /
Henry Dudeney, 1857-1930, was one of Britain’s
greatest puzzle geniuses. A mathematician,
amateur theologian, self-taught shepherd and
civil servant, he had a broad knowledge base
and a love of playing with numbers. He was also
a keen student of chess, particularly in his early
years. His wife, Alice, was a celebrated author
herself, and was frequently compared to Thomas
Hardy for her dramatic and realistically-framed
tales of rural life.
Dudeney wrote puzzles throughout his life,
most of which continue to havea strong influence
on puzzling in the modern era. His puzzles were
marked by a certain gentleness, which comes
through clearly in this puzzle.

Tommy: “How old are you, mamma?”

Mamma: “Let me think, Tommy. Well, our three ages add up to exactly 70 years.”
Tommy: “That's a lot, isn't it? And how old are you, papa?”
Papa: “Just six times as old as you, my son.”
Tommy: “Shall I ever be half as old as you, papa?”
Papa: “Yes, Tommy; and when that happens our three ages will add up to exactly
twice as much as today.”
Tommy: “And supposingIwas born before you, papa; and supposing mamma had
forgot all about it, and hadn't been at home when I came; and supposing—”
Mamma: “Supposing, Tommy, we talk about bed. Come along, darling. You'll have
a headache.”
Now, if Tommy had been some years older he might have calculated the exact ages
of his parents from the information they had given him. Can you find out the exact
age of mamma?

United Kingdom
e. 1900A0'D SEE ANSWER 114
 PROBLEM
Dudeney based this problem on a puzzle set by the last of the great Greek
philosopher-mathematicians, Pappus, a teacher in Alexandria during the 4th
century. Eyen as the sciences were crumbling into the dark ages, Pappus’ work —
retained marvellous sophistication. Dudeney called his formulation Papa’s Problem
as an extra challenge, to see who would get the reference.
The little girl’s Papa has taken two differently-sized pieces of cardboard,
suspended them from threads, and clipped a piece from one so thar it hangs level, as
shown in the illustration. His daughter's task is to find the place on the unclipped
card that will produce the same result without any trial and error.
Can you deduce a suitable spot?

United Kingdom
Ce, aod SEE ANSWER 115
 ITC PROBLEM

Henry Dudeney contrived this interesting puzzle based around an apocryphal trip
to a kite-flying competition on the Sussex Downs in England.
Professor Highflite was flying a kite attached to a perfectly tight spherical ball
of wire. The ball was two feet in diameter, while the wire had a diameter of one
hundredth of an inch. To within the nearest mile, how long was the wire?
Readers unused to converting inches to miles may prefer to calculate the length of
the wire in inches, to the nearest ten thousand.

as
United Kingdom
@, 700TH SEE ANSWER116
 @ 2/126 ~9SX

He BARREL
OF BER
A vintner purchased a number of sealed barrels of drink, seven containing wine
and one containing beer, as seen here. He kept the beer for himself, and then sold
the wine to two people, one of whom purchased twice as much wine by volume as
the other did.
Which barrel contains the beer?

United Kingdom
ec. 1[900AD SCE ANSWER117
oS HGR ay GS y "
 We CCNTCR G
PUZSloC
Henry Dudeney composed this puzzle in honour of Edouard Lucas, the French
mathematician, noting that Lucas had found seven different ways of writing 100 as a
mixed natural + fractional number in which each of the digits from 1 to 9 was used
just once. For example, 91+57?/«38 is one method. There is just one way of doing it,
however, that has its natural component taking up just 1 digit (ie being less than
10).
Can you find it?

United Kingdom
e. 1I900N'D
 HE LABOURER’S
PUZZLE
In this puzzle, Dudeney challenges you to think both logically and precisely.
Professor Rackbrane, during one of his rambles, chanced to come upon a man
digging a deep hole. :
“Good morning,’ he said. “How deviis that hole?”
“Guess,” replied the labourer. “My height is exactly five feet ten inches.”
“How much deeper are you going?” said the professor.
“Tam going twice as deep,’ was the answer, “and then my head will be twice as far _
_below ground as it is now above ground.”
Rackbrane now asks if you could tell how deep chathole would be when PB

United hindi
eC, OO? PORANSVER Io
BP ye Ne Wey niall

ON CT

Imagine that there is a perfectly square field, out in the lowa countryside. The owner
wishes to fence it in using a wooden fence made up of 2.75 yard bars, with seven bars
in each section of fence. What’s more, he wants to ensure that the fence contains
exactly as many bars as the field has acres. It will help you to know that | acreis4,840
square yards.
What is the size of the field? ) ; : Aun

(YI EA ALO ARYA

WAMU FATA

United Kingdom
e. [900AY SEE ANSWER 120
oye
Pate
te ee
 IERROT’S
PUZZLE

5 rx
Oe ae

This puzzle makes use of the interesting self-referential quality of some |

multiplications. The sum 15 * 93, as shownin the image, yields an answer made
of exactly the same digits, just rearranged — 1395. Ifyou try this with a total of
three different digits on the two sides, there are just two possibilities, 3 *51 = 153 eS
and 6*21= 126. | : |
Assuming that you can split your digits 2x2 or 1x3 across the multiplication, :
can you find all the (few) ways that four different digits can be multiplied to yield _ i
an answer which contains only the same digits? It may help you to know that all
of the possible results are less than 4000.

a6
dnited Kingdom
c.1I900AD | SEE ANSWER 121
 Tic POUR
SEVENS

(oe) 6 (ar) Ses

ey

As Dudeney shows in the illustration here, it is easy to use four 5s to create a sum
that equals 100. He then points out that four 9s would also be fairly easy to do, in
the form of 99 + °/s. Achieving it with just four 7s is somewhat tricksier.
Can you manage it?

United Kingdom
ec. 1900AY SEE ANSWER 122
fe ER eng
Mi a Cee Tae eitke,
 R GUBBINS.
IN THE FOG
London’s notorious smog used to make it almost impossible to tell night from day.
On one such occasion, Mr. Gubbins found himself forced to work by candlelight,
because the fog came with a power cut. He had two candles, one of which he knew
to last for four hours, and the other to last for five hours. ie
When he finished working, Mr. Gubbins discovered that one of the cattle stiibs
was exactly four times the length of the other one.
wae long was henei by candle-Ps

United Kingdom
eC IQ0001D SCE ANSWER 123
 HC BASKET
OF POTATOES
In this Dudeney puzzle, a man had a basket of 50 potatoes. As a game, he laid the
potatoes out on the ground in a straight line. The distance between the first two
potatoes was one yard, increasing by two yards for each subsequent potato, so 3
yards to potato 3, 5 yards to 4, and so on. He then placed a basket by the first potato,
and challenged his son to pick them all up and put them back in the basket, carrying
only one at a time.
How far would his poor son have to travel to collect all the potatoes?

United Ringdom
e.
aaa see THHBIPER 124
Thibfiendish little Dudeney puzzle tells the tale of a whicpicat clerk who was told
to number three different 3x3 locker cupboards \with single digits, andtomake sure _ 5
that no digit was repeated on any one cupboard. The boss expected to get three
lockers each numbered 1-9, but he forgot that 0 is a digit too, and that no
ae oe
numbering scheme had been specified.— .
When he returned, he found that his Merk had arranged the Hinbers so that for
each cupboard A, B and C, thesum of the top two rows of digits gave the bottom
row, and the 0 did not appear in the hundreds spot in any of the nine rows, so that
each one was a regular three-digit whole number. Furthermore, the bottom rowofA
contained the lowest possible such sum, the bottom row of C contained the highest —
possible sum, and B was chosen so that no ogi was rege across the bottom rows _
of A, Band C. boa
How had the eccentric clerk numbered the lockers? |

United Kingdom oY
ce T9000D. kw SCE ANSWER
125
S eB Rohe NUS
COZ Ves x5p ORD

PP)
MUL TIPlsICATION
Henry Dudeney had a fascination with puzzles and numbers that made use
of interesting selections and patterns of digits. In this problem, he says, “If I
multiply 51,249,876 by 3 (thus using all the nine digits once, and once only), I get
153,749,628 (which again contains all the nine digits once). Similarly, if I
multiply 16,583,742 by 9 the result is 149,253,678, where in each case all the
nine digits are used. Now, take 6 as your multiplier and try to arrange the
remaining eight digits so as to produce by multiplication a number containing
all nine once, and once only. You will find it far from easy, but it can be done.”

United Kingdom
e. 190011D SCE ANSWER 126
2 ie EQ, t hes
Dudeney takes great pleasure in pointing out that 48 has an interesting peculiarity. .
If you add Ito it, the result (49)issquare. Butifyou halve it and add one, the result
(25) isalsosquare. There are ofcourse infinitely many whole numbers that share this
crait, although 48 isthe first. Yj), ) | > wy oF Ao Oe
But can you find the next largest? How about the two after that?
; ae A Ce let A ge ; i

BORIS VO||
A AS
\ CAA 4 f

CFE ANG

United Kingdom ee e Ce
c.190001D ss SCR INSWER127
oe 5 : oe SRE pe :
 HANGING
PlACES
This is one of Dudeney’s more interesting time-related puzzles. The clock-face
illustrated here shows a time slightly before 4:42. The hands will get back to exactly
the same spots shortly after 8:23, so you could say that the hands will have changed
places. Remember that we are talking about a clock whose hands constantly sweep
smoothly, so the time of the minute hand fixes the relative location of the hour hand
between hours. Taking this into account, how many times will the hands of a clock
change places between 3pm and midnight? And considering all of the pairs of times
indicated by these changes, what is the exact time when the minute hand will be
nearest to the 45-minute mark?

United Kingdom
SEE ANSWER 125
™ aA
 COUNTERS
In this Dudeney puzzle, the digits 1-9 are arranged as shown, as two multiplication
sums, one a 3-digit number multiplied by a 2-digit number, the other two 2-digit
numbers multiplied together. You can easily verifythat 158*23=79*46=3634,
Rearranging the digits but keeping the same distribution pattern of numbers, —
and not duplicating any digit, what is the largest common result of the two
multiplication sums that you canPilg

United Kingdom
c. I900AD
SRS
 ONKEY RIDING

Taking donkey-rides at the seaside is a long-standing British holiday tradition -

perhaps because the sometimes-chilly British waters can be a little inhospitable.
In this puzzle, a pair of children try to have a donkey race. Whilst the donkeys are
happy enough to trot along, they’re friendly enough to each other to go at the same
speed, no matter what their riders might prefer, and the race ends, naturally Oey
in a dead heat.
However, the volunteer judges observe that the first half was run in the same time
as the last half, the third quarter was run in the same time as the final quarter, and
the first three quarters took six and three quarter minutes.
How long did the race take?

United Kingdom
@.ee see SHER 130
 eS: ay aS

120 OLD,

HE SPOT ON
THE TABLE

In this Dudeney puzzle, a young cS challenges his father to work out. the
diameter of a table jammed into the corner of a room. The table’s edge has a spot on
it on the side closest to the corner, and boy points out that the spot is eight inches
from one wall and nine inches from the other.
What is the diameter of the table?

United Ringdom
Ce SEE TINSWER 151
 ITCHING
Tate PETER

In this Dudeney puzzle, a policeman is chasing after a crook. The thief has a
twenty-seven step head-start over the constable, and takes eight steps to the
constable’s five. However, the constable’s stride is much longer, and two of his
steps equal five of the thief’s.
How many steps does it take for the policeman to catch the thief?

a
United Kingdom
ec. 1I900AD
‘ eb
 ‘THE TIME?
This Dudeney puzzle provides a fun. challenge. If you add one quarter of the time
from noon until now to half thetime from now until noon | tomorrow, you willget
the time exactly. a
sitet
y ¢

ce ‘le mo ot Beep
pire

aeretacgg

United Kingdom
CE an
 HE THIRTY-
THREE PEARS
Dudeney’s Thirty-Three Pearls problem is comparatively straightforward. There
is a string of 33 pearls worth a massive £65,000. The pearls are arranged so that
the biggest and most expensive is in the central spot. The individual pearls start
out cheapest on each end. From one end, they increase by a uniform £100 up to
and including the big pearl; from the other end, they increase my £150 up to and
including the big pearl. Jue
What is the value of the big pearl?

United Kingdom
c.pCO
 He THREE
Vill AGES
In the Three Village puzzle,Dudeney offers a somewhat obfuscated trigonometric
challenge. ci
You set out to drive frou Acrchald to BuskecfoRh bac aveidenially find yourself
going via the Cheesebury route, which is nearer to» Acrefield than to Butterford, and
is 12 miles precisely left of the direct road. When you then arrive at Butterford, you _
_ discover that you have travelled 35 miles. Each of the three roads is straight, and ae
whole number of miles in length. e
| What are the distances between the three villages? _

SCE ANSWER 135

 Iam the beginning of eternity,
Iam the end of time and space,
Tam the start of every end,
Iam the end of every place.
Who
am I?
a

United Kingdom
— @.1900D
 HE Vill AGE
SIMPLETON
In puzzles, as in real life, it is never wise to patronisingly underestimate people with
a seeming lack of formal education. In this puzzle, Dudeney tells of a somewhat
supercilious city gent in the country who, wanting directions but not trusting the _
intelligence of the man he has found sitting ona stile, asks him the foolish question
of which dayit is. The baffling replyis that when the day after tomorrow is yesterday,
today will be as far from Sunday as today wass from Sunday when the day before
yesterday was tomorrow.
_ Can you say meer ) it is?

PPO TILA Ho ~

United Kingdom
e. [900AD
 oO SVS

HAPSHAW'S
WHARF
MUSTERY

The Whapshaw’s Wharf Mystery uses the framing device of a violent robbery and
a murdered night watchman. The poor watchman was dumped in the river after
being killed, and the water immediately caused his pocket watch to stop working.
That would have given the time of the robbery, had one foolish policeman not tried
to get the watch working again, and scrambled the time. When asked about it later,
all the hapless constable could recall was that the second-hand had just passed 49,
and that the hour and minute hand were perfectly aligned together.
If you know that the hands on the watch were of the constantly sweeping variety,
rather than the type which clicks from division to division, what was the time on the
watch when it stopped?

United Kingdom
e. I900ND SEE ANSWER 138
sa Te e
 a

x spiderwants\to make his way across a room to get to a fly.theroom’sind walls.

are 12 foot square, andiits lengthis30 feet. The spideris one foot below the ceiling »
in the centre of one end wall, whilst the flyis
i one foot above the Ts esktiesin a Lo 5
centre of the other end wall, ai) : pe \
Obeying the laws of gravity,_ what is the shortest distance chi die Dicks has
“to. travel to get to the: fys position? This is one ofHenry Duderieys more _
é famous Hedi: is .

United Kingdom 1b eS 1B
{903ND SEE TINSWER 159
 @Z Ors 129+ ONE
CLIN GsFHe/ Be
SQUARES
This is a fiendish little Dudeney puzzle. In the circle, any two adjacent numbers,
squared and then added together, should be equal to their diametrically opposite
two numbers squared and added. No number needs to be bigger than 100,there
should be no fractions, and no numbers are repeated. ; e a i
Can you fill in the remaining six numbers? ee ‘

Cnited Kingdom :
@: ig0antia»y SEE ANSWER 140
 HARLEY AND
MISS LOFTY
Sam Loyd was born in 1841, and grew up in New York city. He was an avid chess-.
player, and became one of the best players in the USA, rising to 15th in the world.
He could almost certainly have done even better, but he had a propensity to attempt
to create the most intricate situations on the board rather than simply going for the _
throat. He was also America’s most important puzzle author of the late 1800s and
early 1900s, doing a lot to define the general style of puzzles and riddles for decades
to come. Even today, with our modern interest in abstract puzzles like Sudoku, his _
influence remains strong, and the following pages will have a selection of some of his
_ best work. We'll open with a simple little riddle to give the flavour of Loyd’s work.
Charley Lightop was attempting to woo the somewhat distant Miss Alice Lofty. “I _
say, Alice, Ijust thought ofan originalconundrum,’ said Charley. Why is is themoon
like a suit of clothes?”
How do you imagine Miss Lofty replied?

United States of America

or ae. — SCETINSWER141
There has always been something romantic about the notion of the message in a
bottle. In this puzzle, Loyd gives a cryptic little note from a washed-up bottle: an

A mighty ship I now command,

With passengers from every land.
No goods haye I to trade or sell, f ey,
Each wind will serve my turn as well. — ine a
I’m neither port nor harbour bound, A {
My greatest wish to run aground.

The note contains within it everything required to identify the hallowed author.
Who is it? ‘ A a

United States of America

e. 1905AD
 He BARK OF
MONTE CARLO
In this Siebel tgorcheoey puzzle,Loydp
posits a side-show gamblinggame ayvolving :
the throw of dice. :
In the game, a board is: divided into six guinered squares, and gamblers are invited
to place a stake on whichever number/s they choose. Three regular dice are then —
thrown, and whoever hascorrectly placed a stake on a number that comes up gets their
_ stake back, plus the same again for each time their number has come up. So someone
betting $1 on 2 when 2, 2, 5 was thrown youd get $1+2*$1 (ie. $3) back.
Whar is the chance of winning?

United States of America

ec. 1I905AD SCE ANSWER 143
 WG ae
Sati o,
WE

HE ST PATRICK'S
DAY PARADE
St Patrick’s Day, March 17, has often been the occasion for festive parades, and in
larger American cities such as New York, these often get very big indeed.
In this Loyd puzzle, a parade group finds itself one person short. They form up in
rows of 10, but find that they have one space in the last row. They know that 11 will
not work, so try rows of 9, 8, 7, etc, all the way down to 2. There is always one space
in the last row. Eventually, the leader gives up and settles with single file.
How many marchers are there at a minimum?

United States of America

SCE ANSWER 144
 B O A R
HHEOUSE PIE D I N G
We Mystery fiche Boarding House Pie is an interesting geometric challenge. The
boarding house landlady hasa circular pie with which she intends to feed her guests. She
divides thepie with sixx straight lines, each of which iintersects allfive of the other lines. _
Each intersection
i however consists of jjust two linestouching, and leaves the landlady Hse
with a selection of sizes and shapes of pie to play favourites to her heart’s content.
How is the pie to be divided?

Cnited States of America SS

c. 1905AD Nd 4a SEE ANSWER
145
 OMESTIC
COMPLICATIONS —
Loyd’s Domestic Complications puzzle is an interesting hark-back to some of Lewis
Carroll’s constructions. i isud
Smith, Jones and Brown were great friends, and after Brown’s wife died, his niece
helped him around the home. Smith was also a widower, and lived with his daughter.
When Jones got married, his wife, thinking of the two other men and the generous
size of her own home, suggested that they all come and live together. Any
To ensure equitability, each member of the household, male and female, was to
contribute $25 a month towards household expenses. Whatever remained at the end |
of the month would be distributed equally. The first month’s expenses were $92.00.
When the remainder was distributed, each received an even number of dollars,
without fractions or anything left over. How much did each receive, and why?
3

SCE ANSWER 146

ia
le
 Loyd deh upon cheearlier puzzle asi. Blind Abbot in ate suestonwhich is
somewhat more complex than its older forebear. a on
Centuries ago, the convent ofMt. Maladetta in the Pyrenees was a square three-
story building with eight rooms on each of the top two floors,. arranged arounda
central courtyard. These top floors provided sleeping accommodation, with twice
as many nuns sleeping on the top floor as one the one below. The elderly mother _
superior arranged matters so that each room was occupied, and that on each side of
thebuilding, the two floors together housed 11 nuns. j i
_ After the French army retreated through the area, thenuns discovered Me nine
of their youngest and prettiest members had vanished, presumed stolen away bya
» the soldiers. To avoid. upsetting the mother Ppetioy they rearranged themselves so ~
that they still abided by all of the mother superior’s conditions regarding eet
arrangements. Ihe mother superior was none the wiser.
How many nuns were there, and how were they arranged? —

United States of America

e. 1905AD
 LP BEACON
TOWER
In this puzzle, Loyd describes an apocryphal ruined tower on theJersey coast. When
originally built, the tower was 300 feet high, and surrounded by a staircase which
circled the tower exactly four times from bottom to top. The steps were enclosed
by a banister, which had one support every step. Given that each support was one
foot from the next, and the tower was 23 feet 10% inches in diameter (staircase
included), how many steps were there?

United States of America

@. 1I905AD SEE ANSWER 148
 rae

Rail bids don’t rk leave | space either side of che track. Why would
they? In this puzzle, Loyd tells us that Casey’s cow was standing on a single-track —
rail bridge when she spotted a train approaching ;at90mph, just two bridge-lengths
away from entering the bridge. Rather than run away from the train -which would _
have left her with her rearmost 3 inches caught on the bridge - Le ran towards the
train, and made it off the bridge with a foot to spare. Ay,
Ifthecow was standings 5feet fromthe mig of the bridge Hee longis the bridge?2
%

United States of America 7

ce. 1905AD
me Besos -
 OT GROSS BUNS

Drawing on Mother Goose’s nursery rhymes — quite contemporary at the time

~ Loyd constructed this puzzle, based on the extended cry of the hot cross bun
vendor.

“Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one- anporiny, tyo-saprrae hot cross buns.
Ifyour daughters don’t like ‘em, give ‘em to your sons!
Two-a-penny, three-a-penny, hot cross buns.
I had as many daughters as I had sons,
So I gave them seven pennies to buy their hot cross buns.”

Assuming that buns come in three sizes as described in the rhyme, and each child
got the same number of (intact) buns, how many children are there and how many
buns did each receive?

United States of America

@.a SEE ANSWER 150
 IUPHER DISPATCH |
| PUZZbe
In cryptography, one of the most basic tools is knowing ilerelative frequency of
occurrence of letters in the English language. These are: a, 83; b, 16; c, 30; d, 44; ¢,
120; £,25: g, 17; h, 645 i,80s j, 4; k, 851, 40s m,30; n, 8050,
80; P17:
q,56255 805,
t, 90; u, 34;v, 12; w, 20; x, 4 y, 20; z, 2. Es
The following cipher is a simple substitution, where each letter is cdusiteedtty
replaced by a different letter, and word structures remain asasthey were. Can you
decipher the
t text and : answer the puzzle itgives?? oe

“i, led qi yj ter).nH kjjkssbjd ie Fe lpert 9] bid t.

terwn wgettefiDeadTedi.
eba
ogee sbbwdw rj Dede ieiGefvad):? ae”

United States of America

c. 1905AD SEE ANSWER 151
 HE FIGHTING
FISHES OF SIAM
There are, according to Loyd, two types of fish found in Siam which despise each
other — the large white perch, called the king fish, and the small black carp, called the
devil fish. These species inevitably attack each other on sight. What the devil fish lack
in size, they make up for in perfect strategy and in numbers. Three devil fish exactly
counterbalance one king fish, to the point of stalemate, but four can killa king fish in
3 minutes, with each additional fish making the new group proportionately quicker
than the one before. TRE i
Ifthere are four king fish and thirteen devil fish, which side would win, and how
long would it take them to do so? ‘dl

United States of America

e. 1905AD SEE ANSWER 152
Sa ies ae
The golf puzzle brpeih eatsa situation Ghee a golfer wants to learnj
just ttwo shots,
one shorter and one longer, in
i order to master his nine-hole golf course. Assuming—
that the golfer will always be able to play directly to the hole, and will make ashotof
the exact chosen distance each time, Loyd asks which two shot lengths should the
golfer select to minimise the number of strokes required ifthe course’s hole lengths _
are 150yds, 300yds, 250yds, 325yds, 275yds, Syds 225yds, cou, and eh
_ Can you find the solution? ee TSE Shay 235.

United States of America

ot DoT
This puzzle is an early example of balancing scales using abstract quantities, a visual
representation of simple algebra.
Given that the top two scales are in perfect balance, how many marbles are
required to balance the bottom scale?

ee

ire oe

United States of America

 =o

In this puzzle, Loyd gives us a tricky little question of inheritance.

As a matter of legal importance, with fortunes at stake, the question is whether or
not a man’s marriage to his widow’s sister can be considered legal or not.

a6
United States of America
e. I0STF see eaRSWER 155
t
 He NECKLACE

The Necklace puzzle was one of Loyd’s subtler and more Se cine poze for all
of the inherent simplicity of the question. ‘
A lady goes into a jeweller’s shop with 12 sections of chain identical to the ones
bordering the diagram here. She wishes to have them fixed into one loop of chain of
links, large and small. The jeweller explains that it costs 15 cents to cut and re-seal a
small link, and 20 cents to cut and re-sealabiglink. .
What is the minimum cost of the completed chain? Cog Oe Be

United States of America

g.“ibaa SCE ANSWER 156
 gee, \ ‘amet e ie bl a 4, a NA
9
AYN Rg" ‘ep i DOS ex Ly
tn ye
des os Ze
} aS &
aa: —
og

HE BOXCR
PUZZLE

Loyd presents the game illustrated here as originating in China, although that is
possibly a pun on ‘boxes’ and ‘Boxer’. The playing field is a square grid of dots, and
players take turns to connect two points with a single line. A player who completes
a full box claims it for their own and must then immediately take another turn, so it
is possible to get some quite long cascades.
In this puzzle variant, the points are replaced by the letters A = P. Player 1 is due
to take the next turn. What should player 1’s next move be, and what will the result
be assuming player 2 plays ideally?

United States of America

e. [905AD see SIR, 157
Oe a “STON ss ses

Rip.-—
Se oes re oe
CN ile OS Sat VS aN

HE PATROLMAN’S
PUZZLE
In this Loyd puzzle, a policeman wants to maximize the number of houses he walks
past on his beat. His orders state that he has to start his tour at the corner of 2nd and
A, the spot on the edge of the houses directly below the top left corner. He has to
walk an odd number of houses on each street and each avenue, returning to where
he started.
His current route is illustrated below.
Can you find a route which takes in all the houses?

D>
"pes

2
ares
(_) ae

=
DBDDDD
Spe

United States of America

e. 1905AD SCE ANSWER
158
oP gatas es Up ee
 URF PUZZLE cae

To show how little the patrons of the turf know about the theory of odds as
practised at the race track, let readers seek a solution to the following elementary —
problem: If the odds are 7-3 against Apple Pie, 6-5 against Bumble Bee, and 83-27
against Cucumber, what first-past-the-post bet should a gambler make to be sure of _
notlosing his money? _ : :
ue

United States of America

C1905 TR. See ANSWERI59
 STRONOMICAL
PUZSbE
This Loyd puzzle has a loosely astronomical theme. The grid is supposed to show the
neighbourhood of a highly erratic comet. Starting from the small white star, make
the shortest possible number of straight-line moves to run through the centre of
each black star at least once and finish at the large white star.

el

United States of America lp

 AT C H Q U I L T
eg:
Loyd’s Patch Quilt Pirieis an early:ancestor of the modern Werdaearel, perhaps
even the first. The grid«
contains the names of a number of girls, reading from square ~
to square, and each time moving ini any direction, including diagonally. You can only
use each square once per name, of course. You're given Nancy to start with —how —
many other girls are hiddeniin the square?2

United States of America

ec. (905AD : SEE ANSWER 161
 foe
CE Ors 370m,
RIMITIVE
RAILROADING
PROBLEM

Loyd’s Primitive Railroading problem is one of the classic puzzles in the field of
motion and spatial arrangement.
Two trains are approaching each other along a stretch of one-way track, one with
three carriages plus engine, and one with four carriages plus engine. There is a siding
between them that is just large enough to hold a single carriage or engine. Carriages
cannot be fastened to the front of an engine, nor can they be moved around by any
means other than an engine.
How are the trains to pass each other?

a
United States of America
e. 1905AD SEE ANSWER 162
ee ae Das aa ms

mid (ay
 iS ROGUE’ S
BETTER
An international gang of dbo: have cdfumbted a great bank robbery i in this Loyd.
puzzle. The gang are supposed to visit a series of 19 American cities, encoded in the |
following letter. Can you decipher them?
44

_ “Dear Jim- I won the race. The track was at the Olympic level
andhard as cobalt. I more than won, for my position was central
— eight before and eight behind. They.had all a start from a half to
~amile =to them a considerable advantage, but I can win on a run
or walk and overtake and meander by — or kill.— the best of them.
_ Treading from early o to night thetoads we follow. . —
ELLSWORTH?p #
pst g

United States of America .

oe 10RD a 165
SCE PINSWER
 HE SQUAREST
GAME
In this puzzle, Sam Loyd conjures up the sort of game you might find at a funfair.
There are ten separate figures, each with its own point value. The aim is to knock
over figures that will add up to a total of 50 points precisely, in order to win a small
prize. You can have as many throws as you like — at a price, of course.
Which figures should you aim for?
 SWARM OF —
GOOD BEES
A rebus is a visual word-play puzzle or pun. We have examples dating back to Ancient
Egyptian hieroglyphic rebuses, and many heraldic designs are conceived as rebus_
word-plays, a technique which is known as canting. So Sam Loyd was tappingintoa
rich vein of historical thought when he derived this visual puzzle.
What are the useful New Year's resolutions depicted in the image?

United States of America

AD
<S
 CARY WlolIe
AND TIRED TIM
Train tracks were a much more hospitable walking route for 19th century vagrants
than they are today, where high-speed trains, power lines and other hazards make
them far too dangerous to approach. In this puzzle, Loyd introduces a pair of
vagrants who meet each other coming and going. <a
Weary Willie is 10 miles from Joytown along the track to Pleasantville when he
meets Tired Tim heading in the other direction. The two have been walking since
dawn, so stop and chat for a while, and then continue on their way. They reach their
destinations only to be immediately turned back the way they came. When they
bump into each other again, they are 12 miles from Pleasantville. ;
How far is it from Joytown to Pleasantville?
 We:ERRY'S
é
PARADOX —
In his 1927 work Principia Mathematica, the philosopher Bertrand Russell discussed
a paradox which had been suggested to him some years before by G. G. Berry,a
librarian at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. As Berry pointed out, there are only
‘fa finite number of words, and so only a finite - albeit large — number of possible_
phrases of 10 words or less, even allowing combinations that make no linguistic
_ sense. This means that there are only so many ways to describe a number in less than —
11 words. There are, however, an infinite number of numbers. ae
As Russell put it, that then means there must be a positive integer that isnot
definable in less than 11 words, and because integers are sequential, there must bea
smallest positive integer that is not definable in under 11 words. -
"That integer, then, can be defined as “The smallest positive integer not definable
in under 11 words” — a ten-word definition. So we are left with a paradox in which
there has to be a smallest integer not definable in under 11 words, but that integer, in
the fact of being that number, cannot actually bethe smallest integer not definable
in under 11 words.
Is there a resolution?

Cnited Kingdom
Gg. cae
 ROSSWORD
The mighty Crossword — the world’s most successful puzzle to
date — was created in 1913 by Arthur Wynne, a Liverpudlian —
journalist and puzzle creator.
He invented the puzzle for
the December 21 edition of
the New York World, calling
it Word-Cross. The puzzle
rapidly became a sensation, and
diversified into the various forms
we are so familiar with today.
This is Arthur Wynne’s historic
first crossword.

2-3. What bargain hunters enjoy.

6-22, What we all should be.
4-5. A written acknowledgment.
4-26. A day dream.
6-7. Such and nothing more.
211/A talon.
10-11. A bird.
19-28. A pigeon.
14-15. Opposed to less.
F-7. Part of your head.
18-19, What this puzzle is. 23-30. A river in Russia.
22-23. An animal of prey. 1-32. To govern.
26-27. The close of a day. 33-34. An aromatic plant.
28-29. To elude. N-8. A fist.
_ 10-18. The fibre of the gomuti palm. 24-31. To agree with.
8-9. To cultivate. 3-12. Part ofaship.
12-13. A bar of wood or iron. 20-29. One.
16-17. What artists learn to do. 5-27. Exchanging. a aN
20-21. Fastened. 9-25. Sunk in mud. ; 4
24-25. Found on the seashore. 13-21. A boy.
30-31. The plural of is. . :

United Kingdom
1913AD.
ie
 HE HORSE
PARADOA
The Horse Paradox was devised by Hungarian mathematician George Polya as an
example of how mathematical and logical principles can be misapplied if you are —
not rigorous. Say there isagroup of 5 horses. If you can prove that any groupof4 :
: horses are the same colour, then, because you can break your set of 5 into subsets of — (4
4 covering all possible combinations, the set of 5 has to be the same colour. rg! o
You can then use the same logical induction to say that you can prove groups of |
+ Aare monochrome from sets of 3; groups of 3 from 2; and, finally, groups of 2 from
1. One horseisitself inevitably the same colour as itself, so all groups of horses aare
_ provably the same colour.
What’ sthe flaw?

Austria
C.1922AD
 ASTING DAY
;

. This American riddle has a rather domestic flavour:

} What gets wet when drying?
i
|

United States of America

e. 1950ND
 ROPE AROUND
THE EARTH -
This is a fascinating puzzle, first introduced in the work of the English
mathematician and philosopher William Whiston in 1702. This formulation
comes from Germany in 1935.
The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 40,075.16 kilometres. Assuming —
for the sake of argument that the Earth were uniformly flat, imagine a rope tied
around the equator and drawn tight, so that it is fush with the ground all the way
around. If 10m of slack is added to the rope, and the rope raiged uniformly until
it is again yaut and a uniform height above the Earth, how high off the ground
would the rope be?
x

Germany
1935€A SEE ANSWER 171
 CHRODINGER’S
Cage|
Erwin Schrédinger was one of the founders of quantum mechanics. A Nobel
laureate and a close friend of Einstein’s, Schrodinger devised a thought experiment
which has become one of the most famous expressions of quantum mechanics.
A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with a device that will release a
poisonous gas when a small bit of radioactive material decays — a process which is as
close to truly random as we can find. There is a 50% chance that in any given hour,
the material will decay, and the cat willbe poisoned.
After an hour, what state is the cat in? nent!

Wa Ore s/\ flustria it

> ae ae 19350 neck ASHER? my
 'EMPEls’S
RAVENS
%

Carl Gustav Homéet who died in 1997, was one of the 20th rents most
important philosophers of science. He created, with Oppenheim, the dominant —
method of scientific explanation throughout the 1950s and 1960s, known as the
Deductive-Nomological model. He also crafted a fascinating paradox based on |
logical principle.
If we coriides die tiaritent-thac (a) all ravens are black to be true, then by
implication, (b) everything thatis not black is nota raven. To getsomeevidenceto
support (a), we can observe that my pet raven, Nevermore, is black. To support (b)—
which in turn supports(a) — we can observe that this green (and not black) item isan
apple, got a raven, (0)
‘Therefore, seeing a green appleproves thatallravens are black.
Where’ the flaw? — i

Germany
194511D
 WO TRAINS

It is said that when the renowned mathematical genius John von Neumann was
asked this puzzle, he managed to answer it immediately, by working it out the long
: way round! ; :
| Two trains are on a track heading towards each other. They are 100km apart, and
are both travelling at 50km/h, There is a fly just in front of one train, and it gets _
scared and buzzes away down the track at 75km/h. When it reaches the other train,
it reverses its direction and heads back up the track. How many kilometres does the
fly travel before the trains collide? ;

Ex
K Sm
=
im|

, United States of America

a eee | c. 194501) ANSWER 174:
ee ; net re
a “hie %s , Fy er
Sf
 U N e X p ee c Te t
p
bie G —
es
Ae NGIN
A releaively modert philoaapltcal Samal was posited by D. O'Conner: in 1948.
A judge tells a condemned prisoner that he will be hanged at midday one weekday Yeo
during the following week, and guarantees that the execution will be ai stprise a i $
will not know the day asf the executioner comesforhim. ee
Theprisoner reasons that if he gets to Friday, the last day possible, then chlere|can be.
no surprise when he is called for, and so the execution cannot be Friday. That makes _
Thursday the last day possible ~ but then, ifhe gets to Thursday, he can’t be surprised,
so he can’t be hung on the Thursday either.
e In fact, by similar reasoning, none of the _
days are
a possible. The judge has given hisJ lice so theayes reasons he willnot
be hanged. hivvae Shabatts Coe Os : REN cE
_ He is therefore surprised when the executioner turns up on Wednesday morning.
~ What is the flaw in theipisdingy’s logic? ge eee eet

United States of America a Cy

1948AD 5 itm * SES MINSWERITS
Se
 The
aSSay NI
CUZ Ow

HE SUbLIAN’S
DOWRY
American mathematician Merrill Flood introduced the fiancée problem during a
lecture in 1949. Since then it has been presented in a number of forms, including j
| the secretary problem, the fussy suitor problem and the sultan’s dowry problem, the
form it is presented in here.
A sultan had 100 daughters, and granted a lucky commoner a chance at marrying
one of them. The sultan told the commoner that he would be introduced to the girls
one at a time, in no particular order, and told that girl's dowry as he met her. He had
: to immediately either say yes or no, and either decision was final. However, he would
only be allowed to marry her if he picked the daughter with the greatest dowry.
| What is the commoner’s best chance of finding the right daughter?

SCE ANSWER 176

Viaje a
 (46

ERIT
PARAUOK
Italian Enrico Fermi was a remarkable scientist, and one of the leading physicists of
the 20th century. He contributed greatly in a number of important areas, including
quantum theory and nuclear physics, and was often remarked upon for his gentle
modesty. Unlike most physicists, he was a master of both theory and experimentation,
and won a Nobel Prize for his work on radioactivity. He sadly died in his early 50s of
cancer acquired in the course of his work, but considered that cost worthwhile.
During a lunch-break at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico,
Fermi and some colleagues — Teller, Konopinsky and York - got into a light
discussion about extra-terrestrials. A few minutes later, Fermi suddenly asked
“Where are they?” He did some basic estimates regarding life in the universe, and
arrived at the conclusion that Earth should already have been visited many times by
aliens throughout history and pre-history, and that they— or at least the evidence of
their civilisations — should beclearly visible.
_ There are some 250 billion.stars in our ‘galaxy, and hundreds of billions times that
7:many visible to‘us. With so many planets out there, there must be a large number of —
: civilisations iin our galaxy alone. The Sunisa reasonably young star, so there could
very easily be civilizations billions of years old in our galaxy. Why haven't ty
olonized it?At a aecan’t we seethe evidence ofther Peete z

aly
(9SGA0
eee | i SEE ANSWER Mm
 61

HE PAISONER’S
UILEITITA
The Prisoner’s Dilemma was created some time around 1950 by Melvin Dresher and
Merrill Flood. It has become the de facto poster child for game theory.
Two criminals are arrested, separated and interviewed by the police. Each one is
told that if he testifies against his comrade, then providing that the comrade does not
implicate him, he can go free, while his comrade will get 10 years in prison. If each
implicates the other, both will go down for 5 years each. If both remain silent, the
police will only be able to jail the men for six months. No communication between
the prisoners is possible, and the police guarantee not to let the other man know if
he is betrayed. You can assume the two men are not close friends but bear no ill-will
to each other, and would rather spend less time in prison than more.
How should the prisoners act?

United States of America

c. 95GAR0
.
SEE ANSWER 14 \aer |p
a
te,

(64

Re oAGK
The book stacking problem has its roots in 19th century mathematical work, but
wasn't properly formalised for almost a century.
The challenge is to stack a set of identical, hard-back books on the edge of a desk so
that they protrude over the edge as far as possible without falling down. You can get
one book to balance at one-half length, and you can arrange four books to balance
at one entire book’s length. How many books do you think it will take to have the
stack protrude for two books’ length?

United States of America

) (WSaA0
SEE ANSWER 79
 fs

WO ENVELOP
PAOBLENM
The Two Envelope problem originated with Maurice Kraitchik, a Belgian
mathematician, in 1953. He framed it somewhat differently, but the paradox has
been consistent in form since Nalebuff’s 1989 interpretation of it with a pair of
envelopes as the objects of choice.
Imagine you are being offered two identical envelopes. Each contains a certain
amount of cash, one twice the value of the other. You may select one envelope, and
then you are given the option to swap the two, if you wish.
The problem lies in selection. Once you pick an envelope, the other can either
contain half what you have, or twice what you have. The chance is 50-50. In risk
management terms, the potential loss — 50% of your total, one time out of two — is
25%. The potential gain — 100% of your total, one time out of two — is 50%. So it is
crazy not to swap. But once you swap, exactly the same logic applies, and you have to
swap again, indefinitely, and you'll never select either envelope.
Where's the error?

Belgium
9S3A0
SEE ANSWER 180
 90

OSTAGE STAITIP
PROBLEM)
The postage stamp problem is a refinement of the number-theory work of German
mathematician Ferdinand Frobenius, who died in 1917.
Imagine there is a country whose postage stamp selection is limited to a reasonably
small range. Given a maximum number of stamps that can fit on any one envelope,
there must be a smallest postage price which the stamps cannot be used to make.
Frobenius showed that the problem has no simple general resolution, so given the
stamps 1, 4, 7 and 10, and an envelope which can only hold a maximum of four
stamps, what is the lowest value of postage that you cannot make?
if

— Bermany
(955A0
SEE ANSWER i8i
 91

TABLE MARRIAGE
PAOBLENM
The Stable Marriage problem is an interesting way of looking at the dynamics of
matching up two groups by preferential choice. Assume there are two groups of
single people, one of men and one of women, of equal numbers, and that each person
is able to produce an order of preference regarding marrying all the members of the
opposite sex. The people are all going to pair off and marry. These marriages will be
considered stable if there are no two people of the opposite sex who each prefer the
other to their current partners.
American mathematicians David Gale and Lloyd Shapley devised an algorithm for
pairing people that used a number of rounds to produce a solution. Each round,
each unattached man proposes to the woman he likes the best out of the women he
has not yet proposed to, whether she is attached or not. Afterwards, each woman
provisionally agrees to engagement with the man she likes the best out of her still-
unattached suitors. You can repeat the process until all the men (and therefore all
the women) have partners.
Will the arrangement thus produced be stable?

United States of America

962A
SEE ANSWER i6e2
 92

UES
PARAUOK
American philosopher and logician Willard Van Orman Quine spent almost all
his adult life at Harvard University, going from student to Professor of Philosophy
to retired emeritus. He espoused an Analytic doctrine, that the truth of a statement
should be determined though the analysis of its meaning. Quine constructed his
paradox as a modified form of the Cretan (Liar) Paradox.
This paradox is simple enough. It is the statement that:

“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”

yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

If the statement is correct,itis invalidating itself by not giving falsehood, and

_ therefore contradictory; if itis incorrect,itis verifying itself,which implies falsehood,
and
ee
is therefore contradictory.
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Isthere
5
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at

United Giates of America

Ag2AO
ieo
SEE ANSWER iaa
 99

—"
Logic-grid puzzles, known by a variety of names but increasingly, now, by the
Japanese term Suiri, first made their appearance in the USA in 1962.
Five puzzle masters are spread across the British isles. Each one has a speciality
which he is particularly adept at solving. From the information given below, can you
say where each man lives, what his speciality is, and what his regular job is?
1. Bill lives in Essex. His speciality is neither Wordsearch nor Numberlink.
2. The Surrey man is a policeman. He is not the Crossword specialist, who is called
Robert. . é
3. The driver lives in = 3 ‘f.
Norfolk.
4.The Suiri master
is called Martin,
and he is not a
builder. UDOKU NUMBERLINK
CROSSWORD
WORDSEARCH
5. The tailor
||FARMER
specialises in
||BUILDER
ry|
|[POLICEM
|
S|
paver
neither Sudoku j
|
|_|
|YORKSHIRE
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norSuiri, and he
does not live in ||sTRATHCLYDE
{|+ oeNORFOLK
|
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Yorkshire.

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POLICEMAN Te
6.Ken does not live
in Strathclyde. A ig
7. The Wordsearch Psonee
-
|
|surrey
rane | mint ae
man isa farmer,
and is notcalled
John.

NORFOLK
YORKSHIRE

United States of America

W62A0
SEE ANSWER 169
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Kakuro started as an American puzzle, Cross-Sums, in Dell Pencil Pugeles and |

_ Word Games,1966. In 1980, a Japanese businessman called Maki Kaji was in Ireland
_ for the 2,000 Guineas race. A dedicated puzzler, he found a Cross-Sums, and was i
instantly hooked. Back in Japan, he and a colleague started designing their own
Ae version, which they called Kakuro, from the Japanese for Add—Cross. The company :
they set up was named after the winner of that 2,000 Guineas - Nikoli, Since then, :
Le Nikoli have become one of the most powerful forces in the puzzle world, and th
ao innovations are in every country. They popularised padole and Kakuro is th
number two. ‘
The rules are straightforward. Empty squares hold digits from 1 to 9 $0ae an a
unbroken line of numbers adds up to the clue value in the filled segment toitslef{ =
(for horizontal lines) or above it (for vertical lines). No number may be used more
than once in any unbroken line. Most people find a list of the different ways that
each number can be made from two, three, four or even five digits helpful, bearing in
mind that digits can’t be repeated. Armed with this, and the knowledge that almost
every square is part of at least two sums, all that remains is to apply some logic.
How is the grid filled?

United States of America

966A0
SEE ANSWER i86
 96

ORUSEARLH
The first word-search puzzle that adheres exactly to the
modern form was created by Norman Gilbat of Norman,
Oklahoma, and published in the Selenby Digest of March
1, 1968. The Digest, a free wanted-ads paper distributed in
the town’s stores, came to the attention of teachers in the
local schools. They spread it to colleagues, and eventually it came to the attention of
puzzle syndicators, and then the world.
Words are hidden in the grid of letters in a straight line, and can be found
orthogonally or diagonally, backwards or forwards. This one contains the names of
38 important figures from mathematics and puzzle history — all of whom you will
find mentioned in this book.
Can you find them all?

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| United States ofAmerica

-Fe8AD
SEE ANSWER i&i
 Wi

HE MONTY HAL
PROBL)
The Monty Hall problem was inspired by the American TV game show Lets Make
4 Deal, hosted most famously by Canadian presenter Monty Hall. The problem itself
was first overtly posed by Steve Selvin in letters to American Statistician, drawing on
earlier veridical paradoxes — particularly Martin Gardner’s Three Prisoner Problem. A
common formulation of the problem is as follows:
You are on a game show, and you have the choice of three doors. One hides a car,
and the other two hide goats. You pick one, and Monty Hall, who knows what is
behind the doors, opens one of the others, revealing a goat. He then offers you the
chance to switch to the other unopened door. Is it to your advantage to switch?

United States of America

i9iSA0
f vA
SEE ANSWER iad
“Z, 4
ere
 94

CIA
TL-WAL-TOe
Noughts and Crosses is a simplified form of a Roman game, Terni Lapilli, from
around the time of Christ. The main differing feature of the earlier game is that each
player had three counters, and once all six were in play, players then took turns to
move one piece. In Terni Lapilli, a competent player opening with the centre square
was guaranteed to win, although the popularity of the game for a while in ancient
Rome suggests that this wasn’t widely known.
By the time the game reached medieval Europe, the idea of moving pieces had
gone, and Noughts and Crosses had taken its modern form. Competent players will
always draw. If player one takes centre and his opponent does not take a corner, or
if player one starts off-centre and his opponent does then not occupy the centre,
it is possible for player one to force
a a Noae victories can be
: forced,
Bt

United Sates of America

Maro
SEE ANSWER 189
 iq9

= ale
Few people realize that the world-famous Sudoku was created by a retired Indiana
puzzle enthusiast, Howard Garns. It is thought that Garns first devised his puzzle
in the early 1960s, while working as an architect for Daggett. His puzzle, which
he called ‘Number Place’ first appeared in 1979 in Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word
Games magazine, becoming a reasonably regular feature of the magazine. Garns died
in 1989, and although he never knew that he had created what would become the
most phenomenally successful global puzzle since the crossword, he did live to see
Sudoku become hugely popular in Japan in the mid-80s.
The rules of Sudoku are simple. Fill in the grid so that the numbers 1-9 appear exactly
once in each row, column and 3x3 marked box. You don’t need any mathematical
skill, just some patient
€ ee «logical deduction. Most
= ee ase ses & @¢ 6 ee e 6 o's ees 6 as e people start by pencil-
e

sd marking each empty square

with representations of all.
«

]
the numbers that could
s

e possibly be in that square,

o

‘I
either writing the numbers.
e
themselves in them, or —
putting dots ina 3x3 gridin —
@

@
the space, so, for example,
® 1 is a dot top left, and 8 is
a |
6
a dot bottom centre. This
&
method is more compact
3

| than writing numbers. —

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United States of America

MGA
SEE ANSWER i90
 200

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 col

= UTHER

a
SREME EE
eS ee 2
__ Nikoli’s Slitherlink first appeared in 1989 as the fusion of two hee neo a ee
_ game is played on the lines of a grid, with numbers in the grid cells showing how the. .
ines are to be placed. A number of the grid lines have to be joined together to make oo
one single complete loop. The numbers in the cell indicate how many of that cel’ a
sides form part of the loop. ee
Where is the path?

Japan
I689R0
SEE ANSWER (92 Cy,
 a
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SEE ANSWER 93
 23

UisiscT
HUNGER
The largest number that cannot be made by just adding together 0 or more of
each of a group of numbers is known as the Frobenius number of that group,
after Ferdinand Frobenius, a German mathematician who was active in the late
19th century.
A well-known fast food chain sells adult portions of chicken nuggets in boxes of 6,
9 and 20, co-prime amounts. This inspired Wilson, in 1990, to examine the Frobenius
number for chicken nuggets. What is the largest number of nuggets that cannot be
purchased?

United States a
iI99GA0
SEE ANSWER i199 / ds \
 204

HE SIEVE
OF CONWAY
John Horton Conway, born on Boxing Day in Liverpool in 1937, is a hugely
innovative mathematical discoverer, currently Princeton University’s Professor
of Mathematics. Among his many other discoveries is Fractran, an ‘esoteric’
programming language consisting of nothing more than14 fractions. By running
a number through these fractions in a particular pattern, it is possible to generate
all the prime numbers that exist, in sequence. This technique has been variously
labelled Conway’s Prime Producing Machine and The Sieve of Conway.
Take an integer greater than | bad multiply it by the first fraction. If the result
is not an integer, you discardit, and try again with the second fraction. When you
finally get a whole number, check ifit isa power of 2 — that is, 4, 8, 16, etc. IFir is
: not, repeat the process, usingthe new number you just got. When you do finally
- get a number thatisa power of 2,the prime number iis the value of the Powe of
_ two that the number is equivalent to Thefractions are: :

ly, you llyget the

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SEE ANSWER (95

 205

OnIGe)
HANAME

i NikoHeteymasters ened Gokigen Naname in 1999.

Each cell in the grid contains one diagonal line from corner to corner.the :
; ARE circles show how many lines touch that corner. The aimis to fill in the
_ grid so that the lines never form a closed circuit of any size. They do not need to
form one network, however.
Where are the lines?

Japan
I999A0
SEE ANSWER i965
il
Fillomino, also known sometimes as Allied Occupation, is a popular Nikoli puzde
created in 2001.
Each value shown in the grid is part of a group of cells. That group has as many
cells as the number that is given. A ‘6’ is part of a group of six cells, for example.
Groups may take i ee 4) no two are of fhe:same size may touch each

groups are Hey given a tarting value,bilsome grou ‘may well have more
than one of their cells shown at the start.
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tera
A Nikoli creation from 2001, Masyu requires you to join up the dots in a grid. vy
A line passes through some or all of the cells in the grid in such a waythaticforms ea .
a single continuous non-intersecting loop. The line always exits a cell by a different ‘ } Hay | a
side to the one it entered by, and passes through2all cells containing a circle. Thelige |) ae
i travels straight through a cell with a light circle but turns in the |previous and/ or i ia |
following cells in its path. By comparison, the line turns iina cellcontaining a dak a ae
a cell, but travels straight through both aeeee andes an itsra et
eWhereistheling?
,

0) i de Cala ees : ie

-dapan
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SEE ANSWER (98
 204

AGILE SOUARE
MARIN
Magic squares are said to be n-order, where n is the number of cells in a row or column.
Normal squares hold the numbers 1 to n, and each row, column and true diagonal
adds to the same number. This constant, M, is always ‘" +") /2, There is only one normal
3-order square (M=15), but there are 880 4-order squares (M=34), almost 300 million
5-order squares (M=65), and so on.
If n is odd, squares can be generated quite easily. Even squares are trickier. There’s
a reasonably straightforward way to generate squares where n is divisible by four.
Squares where n is even but not divisible by 4 are harder. To do these, you need a
template n-square of 2x2 blocks, where each block contains the numbers 0 through
3, and each row, column and diagonal on the template adds up to n squared. Then
you map each 2x2 block to a single cell of a normal square of order "/2 (let’s call it
x), and ‘replace each number in that template block’s cell (y) with x+(y*n’). So a_
6-order “square will have a template mapped to the 3-order square, and the ‘I’ cell of
the 3-order square will generate cellsnumbered 1, 10, 19 and 28.
oe (heecan ee enone a Gordes square (M=111)?

a ee United States of America

H : a a : BOOSAD
Te SEE ANSWER 99
 204

Vail:
Numberlink is one of Nikoli’s more recent puzzle innovations, and it too has proven
enduringly popular.
Several pairs of numbers or symbols are given in a grid. The player's task is to
start at one number and link to its duplicate with one single, continuous line of
grid cells. Lines cannot branch, cross each other, or form a knot of cells 2x2 or
more. When all the pairs are correctly linked, all of the grid’s cells will be filled.
How are the numbers linked?

Japan
2OG6A0
SEE ANSWER 200
ANSWER 1. The second side (B) represents the importance of 10 as anumber, by -
omission. 9 and I'1, at either end, bracket 10; and 19 and 21, in the centre, bracket ©
20. Remember that 10 and 20 are very natural human numbers of importance, given ~
our digits. The third side (C) is the most stunning. It gives 11, 13, 17 and 19 — the
prime numbers between 10 and 20, in order. The remaining 7 and 5 on the first side .
extend the sequence of primes to include all the prime numbers below 20 occurring —
after 4... the fast non-prime number. *,
t een
%
ay se(gee . { >

es: a ae

OLY DAYS

ANSWER 2. The two numbers which give a rectangle the same perimeter length
and area are 16 and 18, If perimeter = area, then 2(x+y) = xy. This is equivalent to x
=2 + */(y2). For this equation to work, y-2 has to divide into 4 evenly. In other words,
y-2 is 1, 2 or 4; and y is 3, 4 or 6, giving respective values of x of 6, 4 and 3. So 6*3=
6+6+3+3= 18, and 4*4= 4+4+4+4= 16. The fact that tabooed 17 fallspecvern os
these numbers made them all the more magical.
 & ba ies

ANSWER 3. Basically, you either know this or you don'tt, and it turns out the
_ Egyptians did. If h is the height, x is the length of the base and y is the length of —
a +1thetop, then the volume of a truncated pyramid is h/3*(x? : xy + y’). In thiscase, .
ey thar (4*4 + 4*2 + 2*2) *2, or 56. You can get a rough approximation by takingthe:
“i _ average of the upper and lower area and eee that Gs
Se ES
the height -- thatwould.
_ reli give you ((16+4)/2)*6,or60. get ee ae ne
ma : ‘ re : : : Cs : : : ‘ “4 4 7 a é é = J oe - j .

> = = 2 ¥ f ~ i ’ se 5 rie e .

RANGPES es ae
BES Ps 5 a- 2 ae Oe — % ae i
ff ont sens PS as

OF BA BYLON |
eR8S oe ee =

e ; s 7 js e $ > 4 3 .
ar ki at, : SRE ee ge
a

ANSWER 4. You can either calculate the area of the two triangles, and subtract
the larger from the smaller, or work out the area of the trapezoids (height*average _
length), and multiply thatt by 3. The latter option is complicated by lack ofimmediate — :
y data ee aoe knowprecisely how h i the ceappeold.|is, norhowJong the e

(oot /4,Sofor as nae cranglesit’s as/,*

4* root 3, and for a smaller, it’sss
4* root 3.
That's dapproximately 10.8 - 3. ?,or 6.=ue units.
oa= ore:BCE ~ “ mires eee

STE e ts : : Sees 3 2 teen

 ANSWER 5. Ancient Egyptian techniques of division were unwieldy, and you're
_ not expected to be able to guess how they did it. For this puzzle, the trick liesin -
thinking about the five men getting identical pieces. First off, divide one loaf into
5. That takes care of '/s. Divide the remaining two loaves into thirds; that gives you _
five lots of 1/3, with an extra '/3. Cut the remaining '/ into five pieces, giving you
'/ss. Then each man gets '/3 + 1/5 + 1/1s, and Ahmes would have understood exactly
what you meant. Note there are infinite other possible answers here, all equivalent
and fitting the question — that was one of the flaws of ancient Egyptian fractional
technique. To give just one exampl ‘ou could|cut the loaves into 5, 6 and Lg
cutting the remaining 6ths and 11ths into 5 in turn, to give "/s+ '/o + */i + "30+ 1/55.
* Nevertheless, 1/3 + 1/s + '/s is the most simple solution.

| WAS GOING TO.

AMENEMHET III'S
ANSWER 6. Nothing too complicated here,just fiddly. Multiplying by 7 each time,
we get: 7 houses, 49 cats, 343 mice; 2,401 sheaves of wheat, and 16, 807 hekaes=
grain. Together, that comes to 19, 607.
 QU ESTION OF ~
QUANTI
c Ps aes
*

ANSWER 7. Ahmes deals with this piObIeR: siStigh ReplyFalsi: i order:to

remove the quarter, he starts by assuming that the missing quantity, x, is 4. Then 4
+ (4* 1/4) =5, which is a third of the equtet a
sum of fifteen. . That means his first
guess is three times too small, and x must be 12. a lagi te tag
a prt * See as

cae ee ee
st 9 OR Es .
3 eh gape < 6%
5 meters 5 2 ae 4 = ae
sa es mi 2 aes a

ss oe kes
5 ge ae os : . a Lge

ia

ANSWER 8. ieterms of moder mathematics, this question is asking yourto fee

“ue - Ys Uae
ea 1.We!know pow. that 2/3is ase to Mss and 1pe so the

was
EF ol ioasly 4.
4 y is 15¢, so x=l/s5"y, orAM “that‘meantdoubling pgtwice, using
est ~ Ahmes’ table. We don’t have that, but we can think iin multiple fractions instead,z
a Soeineiny‘hs down, the
Sees unitfraction that we can remove and that leaves.x ES,
750 theeuswerss T53“+“se =
ANSWER 9. From our point of view, pesu 10 barley is worth 4.5* pesu 45 barley
(from “/10), so a fair sum would be 450 hekats. Ahmes gets there by first pointing ©
out that 45 is 35 greater than 10. He then divides that 35 by the 10, to get a unit ~
value of 3 + 4. Then he multiplies this bythe 100 hekats for 350 hekats, as the value
of the difference, and then adds it back to the ce 100 hekats for the total value,
getting 450 hekats.

ROGRESSIVE
Rhenies,

LOAVES
ANSWER 10. First of all, you need to work out a standard decrement, or gap, that
gives the correct ratio of '/7 of the top 3 shares = the bottom 2. You know 5, 4, 3, 2,
1 is wrong, but try it, and you'll find that 3 (from 2+1) - 15/7 (7/7) = 17/7. Try again
with a gap of 2, and you have 9, 7, 5, 3, 1. Now the difference in ‘ratio is 4 - (21 *!/7),
or 1. The ratio is narrowing, by '/7 for every half-point of gap between numbers. We
need to get to 0, which means a further three and a half points of gap on from 2 - the mee :
first gap to fill the answer is 5 %. Calculating up from 1, that gives us 1, 6.5, Ba Ya: oma
and 23, which total to 60. We need them to total to 100, which means multiplying
everything by '°°/co, or 1%. So our final results’are 1 74, 10 4/c, 20, 29 '/6 and She
and the difference between shares is 9 + /c.
 €
ky é oy
Ss ih <6 3 bs

Pe Sy 1 1.Ty to answer this problem byeat the question to fractions

:

youl
' ae it rapidly becomes ans complex — sare oAiicean Sete:
tion-doubling table to hand. Regula Falsi providesamuch better approach. Let’s ~
try3,to even out the initial thirds. 3 + 2is 5, and ¥% of that is 14, leaving3%. That’ gos
petethird of 10, the value we want, so multiple ourr initiales by,‘toget 9. 9+6
1S, and % of that is 10, Se Oe a ee ees

a die
= 19. ie3isn’t, it’s 8. That means 7 is as far short afeeanswer as 8 is of19,So
multiplying 7 by the amount required to turn 8 into 19 (which has to be '/s) gives_
he correct answer—and it does, 16.625 (that.625 is%). Give yourself a bonus point
ae yubrokethis down into an Ahmes-friendlly16+ %+ %. Ifyou're wondering where _z a3
ach Golder
len Rule cone in, consi der the question as
en ofx=
= 19,or 8x/7=19/, 2 =
Sito
ae
~
Pein
Becke
 ROGRESSIVE

ANSWER 13. Ahmes reasons that the portions must average to 1 (10 hekats / 10
people), and there are only 9 differences between the ten shares. To find where he :
_ has to start his sequences (descending), he calculates half of the desired difference,
'/e, and multiplies that by the 9, to give % + '/s. Adding this to the average value
gives him the largest of the terms, 1+ % +'/. It is fascinating to realize that this is
an exact practical rendering of modern formulae for discovering the largest term abi
an arithmetic sequence. The smallest, in case spOErs interested, turns out to be 4 +
¥% + '/o of a hekat.

CIRCLE

ANSWER 14. The title, here, is the hint. Draw a square of 9*9 that exactly fits the
circle, and then divide that square into a three-by-three grid of 9 chunks, each with ==
an area of 9 units sq. Youd get greater accuracy ifyou divided it into fifths or sevenths
than into thirds, but trisecting will do. Look at the grid over the circle, and you'll see .
that roughly speaking, the circle cuts thecorner squares in half, and leaves the other
squares intact. Ifyou actually cut the corners in half, producingan octagon, itdoes
follow the circle quite closely. Add up the number of chunks in your octagon, and
it comes to 7 pieces of 9 units sq, or 63 units sq. Ahmes fudges the assumption that _
63 is almost 64, which is a convenient 8*8, and says that a circle of diameter 9 is
equal in area to a square of width 8, and gives the answer as 64*6= 384. The more -
obvious answer, from the octagon, is 63*6= 378, which is what you should have.
The modern answer, by the way, is 381.7 — so either way, we're not far out,

J.
 ee
ANSWER 15. We know that x’ + y’= 100. ify 13/4, thennae The Sipe
~ Regula Falsi we can try for the second equation is thatxis4 and y 16>,
i Putting that
____ into the first equation, we get 16 + 9 = 25, rather than 100. We are 4 times out, but
"we can’t just multiplyxand y by 4, as we're looking. at squares. We |have to take thers
_ square
© root of 4 to give 2, and multiply by that, so x is 8 and y is6. Note ‘thatthe
original
ad
author, perhaps concerned about cases where the factorisn ta:neat square 4,
=
a number, instead took the square roots of 25 and 100 (5 and 10 respectively), and
=. observed that they were out bya factor of 2,and derived the 2 anaWaye: see
— e mee Se ees ee aE”
a ie ? i7oe ee
Sohn ey ie
PI ee shoe
- re 3 %
a é é hones i seis ad 2 4

UMERIAN -
RIDDLE
ANSWER 16. The riddlerefers toaaschool =A
eg
TOAMESSES' STAR es

ANSWER 17. ‘Theknack 1 to this puzzle is continually circling around the star in»
_ the same direction, always selecting ek previous starting point as your next end
point. For example, let’s imagine the star’s circles are lettered from A toJ, starting at
the top point and working clockwise around |the perimeter line. Then one sequence
of moves which will fill 9 spots is as follows: Start at A and jump to D (A>), ‘then
H>A, E>H, B>E, J>B, F>I, C>E, J>C aaa ox

HE RIDDLE OF
THE SPHINX
ANSWER 18. The answer is man, who crawls when newborn, walks upright when
adult, and requires a cane in old age. Oedipus was the one who finally got the riddle
right, leading the Sphinx to hurl herself to her death from her lofty perch.
 ~ HEQUIET ONE

et eM et Sor %
st ; ea i: vi

*
s ae
; Renee
ae

Pie 3 a ae eee a a oe ba
om a
ec
25 gL EO
ipo ee

ANSWER 20. The:stars. eo

a RSE 24,‘thiecare several possible ap .

py sim y be wrrong,in which case theréis'nd La oadoe ifssome Cretan.: ome
-are liars, that can1 include Epimenides, but not, say, his mother, so he’s lying without ;
causing paradox. Or the statement of the paradox itself ‘may itself be a lie; he may
aaoe~ have said no puch ae: Taking a common sense bids a yourcana that the—

<Poeetn
 fe
ANSWER 2 2. Zeno is assuming that there are an infinite number of sibdivisions ste
space, but only a finite number of subdivisions of time. Both of these are arbitrary
assumptions. Modern molecular physics suggests that space does have a minimum
subdivision at the subatomic level, but even discounting that, if space can be
infinitely divisible, why not time as well? Then the two infinities cancel out ~ there .
may be infinite half-way stages, butiit’s OK, because you have infinite moments to”
get to them. ea

ANSWER 23. On one level, it’s clear that objects do move, and possess a quality
of momentum. But that’s not the answer. Interestingly, if you look at reality at the
quantum level, it becomes clear that Zeno was absolutely right. If reality is viewed
as a purely spatial construct, mediated through a series of time-slices — the classical
view of the real world — then there would indeed be no logical point for motion to
occur in, Quantum mechanics has shown conclusively that at the subatomic level,
if you know an object’s position, you cannot know its momentum, and vice vers
In other words, position and momentum are incompatible. If you can say Zeno’s a
Arrow is exactly at point X, then you cannot say it is moving, and vice-versa: It
never occurred to Zeno that space and time might be tied together so intim tely to.
form our reality, but his intuition was spot on. If that’s not bad enough, consider —
the Quantum Zeno effect, so named in 1977 — if you watch-a Quantum syster
continuously, its normal passage through time is interrupted. In effect, watching:
Zenos arrow that closely actually does make it stand still.
 ANSWER 24. At fistglance, Zeno is abe the scipid‘mdigaletof pe 3
~relative speed with absolute speed. A passes B quickly because B is also in motion. It
ESE should be utter rubbish—except that modern physicss suggests that iftwo spaceships |
4
“approach each other from opposite directions, both travelling at the speed ofFlight, :
each will appear to the other to be travelling at the speed ofeenot twice the:aoe a
oiia et Looks like Zeno might have a point here after 2 oe
re 5 bps
Phe

a |atesAND
THE TORTOISE
ANSWER 25.<< with the Dichotomy, Zeno is discounting the cases slitta:Spice
_and time are both equally divisible or indivisible. In either case, it becomes possible
r \chilles to meet the Tortoise at exactly the same spot in space-time, and then _
eo ato:passit. Also, Quantum uncertainty at these super-miniscule distances makes it
“impossible to talk meaningfully about moving a certain a es in a certain tiny
_ time -
— it can be one or other, but not
ree
 ANSWER 26. If you want to retain the notion of the word ‘heap’ having any—
. meaning, then there has to be an arbitrary point at which the heap stops being po:
heap, and earns itself some more diminutive adjective. The fact that the word ‘heap’ ~
doesn’t tell us precisely when that occurs iis a fault of the vagueness of language,
rather than any logical inconsistency. The only alternative positions are that no.
collection of grains is ever a heap - rather futile, as you can then derive the almost
total meaninglessness of language from sucha standpoint—or that a singlegrain can
in fact bea het, which is aoea eleles s unhelpful

OUR
BROTHERS
ANSWER 27. The brothers are the four classical elements — water, that runs and runs;
fire, that devours; earth, that soaks up moisture; andair, with its howling and whistling.

Ree

eaten
ati refers toaee
Sc
with iitsgreenskin,whitepith, red
 ANSWER 30. The Lo Shuis the first magic square, where all straight lines and. ©
up to 10. Itisthe =
. corner diagonals add up to 15, and opposing pairs of numbers add
only 3x3 magic square possible.
;
i

ANSWER 3 1. The 17th century Dutch philosopher Spinoza suggested that in fact
there was nothing paradoxical about the principle. Unpleasant as it may be, some
dilemmas are so convoluted as to lead the victim down a third path of disastrous
inactivity, even to the point of death sometimes.
 ists Te oder
£

ANSWER 3 2. This is an issue of relativity, icaeeiar with Hui Shi’S phileséphical

__ beliefs. From a viewpoint on a massive scale, the differences between mountain and—
- marsh =oreven heaven and earth— are so miniscule as tobe non-existent. The obverse, a
a ~ that from a microscopic viewpoint all worldly things are vast, also ties in tosomec =
pelea
~ of his other paradoxes. The point is valid; any differentiation onlyhas meaning i
within a set scale, and so from a certain point of.view, any perceiveddifference ae
—
ismeaningless. ee e en,

ANSWER 33. The flaw infeed proof |lies in assuming that youcan applythe -
iassociative law to an ‘infinitely long calculation. Generally, this isn’t true. The —
_ associative law assumes you have a certain number of terms. Infinity has an uncertain
~~ number, so you can't just rearrange. the sums. Or look at it this way. Infinity fas
i
uncountable, so in both cases, you have infinite pairs of zero terms stretching fe)
You can either start that chain with a I or not, but that doesn’t alter theeatfact that it’s
pe ate

‘the chains themselves Ht are i ae the wholee

expression. sz ee ee =eee
is

“Lak na Spilsby ze hg ite FS hiss a ee

 ANSWER 34. If the mother says that she will get the baby back, the crocodile is. ©
_ free to eat him and prove het wrong. If she says that the crocodile will eat the baby, -
and the crocodile does, then it must give the baby back— but if it acknowledges this—
and gives the baby back, the mother is no.Jonger right,.and so the crocodile does
not have to give him back after all. This is irreconcilable, and the crocodile may well
decide that since both options are impossible, it is free to do as it wishes, and eat the —
baby— or to gruesomely split the difference.Some thinkers have suggested that the- =
best course is to turn the statement back on the crocodile - so the mother responds,
“I predict that if I correctly predict the fate of the my baby, then you will return,
~ him. Otherwise, you will eat him? This would unarguably cancel out the crocodile’s
* options, providing that it is taken to count as a valid prediction.

HE LADDEROF
HORUS
ANSWER 35. Euclid’s formula provides a method of generating Pythagorean
triples. If you take two integers, m and n, so that exactly one of themiis odd and
the two share no common divisors, then the following equations will generate the—
Pythagorean triples: x=2mn, y=m?-n?, and z=m?+n2. There are 3 triples with ae 2.
less than 20; 3-4-5, 5-12-13 and 8-15-17. :
 HE SIEVE OF a
ERATOSTHENES |
©
a3 H she nae

ae ANSWER 36. The sieve’s simplicity is peeathealetigle elegant. 10 findallche prime

~ numbers in a range, write them all out starting from 1, and then starting from 2, go
___._ through and cross off all the multiples of each uncrossed number. (Lis not generally
~ considered prime). So you do not cross off 2, but cross off 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, etc Dds .
~ uncrossed, so it is prime, but you cross off 6, 9, 12, 15, etc. Lis crossed, ignore it,but oS
5 is uncrossed and prime, and you cross off 10, 15, 20, etc.Go on through to the i a
Bk. BF square root of the number, becauseany larger divisor must be paired toa smaller . i ae
se divisor. 100 is 25*4, but you'll have hit that possibility at 4already, 10°10represents _ oe a
the largest possible smaller divisor. The
fee
sieveShitisso-named
j
because ifyou write itout > oe
asagrid,the primesaretheholes. 8 = —™ ee, .
; Incidentally, the original proof that there is an infinity of primes is as follows: —
ps assume that the list of numbers pl, p2, p3 ... p# is the full list of prime numbers.
li If you multiply all of them together, and then add 1 to the total, you get a new z
eS number, P. Ivis mathematical fact that every non-prime number is a multiple ofone
=a or more prime numbers, because only primes are indivisible. So either P is a prime _
tle number itself, which makes it a new prime to add to the list, or it is divisible by :ae a
prime number that is not already on the list. P cannot be divisible by a prime on the Sage
list already, because you got it by multiplying them all together and then adding Ht
This would mean that your prime on the list would have to be smaller than 1, which
is not allowed. So, in other words, either P is prime, or it is divisible by a prime you —
don't already know - and there are therefore always more primes.
- ae
oes aoncntne Spec
 Ree
silatDES
NGE.
ANSWER 3 7. This puzzle describes a complex indeterminate polynomial equation
chat must have an integer solution. The sheer vastness of the numbers concerned _
makes it extremely difficult. The answer turns out to be 7.76x10%°“— a truly |
_ gargantuan amount. Number theorists have suggested that if youtookasphere with
a diameter equal to the width of our galaxy, and hrc) each of the cattle to the size.
ofan electron, they still wouldn't fit.
The generally accepted text of Archimedes’ Revenge has a certain poetic beauty,
It goes like this... If thou art diligent and wise, O stranger, compute the number
of cattle of the Sun, who once upon a time grazed on the fields of the Thrinacian
isle of Sicily, divided into four herds ofdifferent colours, one milk white, another a
glossy black, a third yellow and the las¢ dappled. In each herd were bulls, mighty in
_ number according to these proportions: Understand, stranger, that the white bulls
~~ were equal to a half and a third of the black bulls together with the whole of the
yellow bulls, while the black were equal to the fareh part of the dappled and a
fifth, together with, once more, the whole of the yellow. Observe further that the
remaining bulls, the dappled, were equal to a sixth part of the white and a seventh,
together with all of the yellow. -
These were the proportions of the cows: The white were precisely equal to ‘hethird =
part and a fourth of the whole herd of the black; while the black were equal to the
fourth part once more of the dappled and with it a fifth part, when all, including the
bulls, went to pasture together. Now the dappled in four parts were equal in number to
a fifth part and a sixth of the yellow herd. Finally the yellow were in number equal to a
sixth part and a seventh of the white herd. If thou canst accurately tell, O stranger, the
number of cattle of the Sun, giving separately the number of well-fed bulls and again
the number of females according to each colour, thou wouldst not be called unskilled
or ignorant of numbers, but not yet shalt thou be numbered among the wise. :
But come, understand also all these conditions regarding the cattle of the Sun.
When the white bulls mingled their number with the black, they stood firm,equal
« iinc
depth and breadth, and the plains of Thrinacia, stretching far in all ways, were filled —
with their multitude. Again, when the yellow and thecarrer bulls wee athered e

grew slowly greater tillitpotted a iar Rink there Bare no bulls ofother
colours in their midst nor none of them lacking. Ifthow art able, O stranger, to fi

thou shalt depart crowned with glory and knowing that thou hast been adjudged a0
perfect in this species of wisdom.
 eo
a a a, é Rae

ANSWER 38. The Bahk presents a fairly sophisticatedmatrix solution ‘process ee

~ to answerthe puzzle, but it is simpler for us to solve it by algebra. We Have threer* =
_ conditions for making one measure, which wecan represent as three equations, 2a ieRa
ES be= 1,3b+c=Jand 4c +a= 1. This can be solved by substitution. Forexample,
sy* multiply the lastequation by 2 to pive 8c 2a=“is and subtract thisfrom the firstae pee
~~ equation, so 2a + b - 8c - 2a = 1 -2, orbases bk This means thatbe 8c -ee andy
we can substitute b iin the second equation to get3(8c- Lice ==, or ae oSat ee
That gives us 25¢== 4,orc =4/ 25ths ofa ee Similarly, b= /25thsanda a a=
Stns XK es y ame By

Baking,

H ECISTERN
ae "PROBLEM

answer 39. "The first tap provides 48 in 12 hours, orSo tatr The second tap is sais
= provides 8/hour. Thethird
| ss Stour.Thenet balance is6 —
on
 ANSWER 40. We know that a chase of 125pu closes a gap of SOpu. This means that
_ the gap closes pu for each 2. Spe chased. So a 30pu gap requires 30*2.Spu to close, vy
or 75pu. ;

eran
fox

HE
CHICKENS
ANSWER 41. Simple algebra will let you solve this puzzle once you've reduced
jt to appropriate equations. Assuming that the number of purchasers is x, and
the actual price is p. Then we know that 9x = p+11, and 6x = p-16. Subtract the
latter equation from the former, and 9x -6x =p + 11- (p-16), or 3x= 27. Sox=9
Then p = 9x - 11, which is 81 - 11; or 70: There are 9 purchasers, paying70:wen —
between them:
 ANSWER 42. Look at the square inside the triangle, and you'll see that the two.
smaller triangles it creates are miniature versions of the larger triangle. ‘They.share. :
_ the same angles, and are therefore equivalent, justdifferent sizes. If x is the square’ a
side length, then the sides of one of the smaller triangles on theku will beku-x and
x in length, not counting the hypotenuse. Because the triangles are> equivalent, the
tatio of length between the sides must stay the same as in the larger — So
ku:kou= (ku-x):x, and x=ku*kou/(ku+kou), or inn thiscase, 60/17 ch’ih. — —
Sea renee ABS

ANSWER 43. The trick here is to represents the men’s statements in alpebraicform,
: and then you'll have three simultaneous equations with three unknowns, which iis
solvable. Noting that they all have whole numbers, the first man has 16 yuan,
y the
= second mann has 10 yuan, and the third man has 6 yuan.

er é =

ANSWER 44. They're footsteps. ee gt

 ANSWER 45. The usual answer to this problem is to take the common claimant, the. ©
_ mother, and compare the two children’s shares to her share. The ratio of son:mother —
~and mother:daughter is 2:1. The son therefore gets twice as much as the mother, —
who gets twice as much as the daughter. So the shares are */ to the son, 2/7 to the
mother, and '/7 to the daughter.

HE SHIP OF
THESEUS
ANSWER 46. This is really a philosophical question rather than a simple paradox.
Aristotle maintained that it is the form of something that defines its reality, and that
the materials used, its content, are of lesser import. In that sense, it is definitely the
same ship. Japanese culture assumes this principle as a general fact. In an absolutely
tigorous definition of the “same” ship, then no, once one piece is removed, its
integrity is violated. Some orthodox Jewish taboos seem to follow this latter view. A
utilitarian view might suggest that the ship's final form would have been settled the
moment Theseus left it for the last time, and-so the first Athenian repair would have—
invalidated it. In the end though, these are all opinions, and the choice is yours.
ae
 “A PURSE ~

ANSWER 47. The lowest sums are 23 in the purse, % oe hefirsen

man, 16 for
~ the second man, and 13 for the third man. Fibonacci finds the answer as follows:
_ “consider the second man. His cash, y, is 4 that of the first man’s cash x, plus che
~ purse’s cash, p. The third man’s cash, z, is 4 y +p). The first. man’s is %{zvep).
—— Maly the fractions of x, y and z, to get acommon denominator 1/24, and subtract — efz
~ the 1 from the 24 to find the total in the purse, 23. Then to findthe total value, he: “=
on
2 adds 1 to the bottom of each fraction, to give 4, 4 and 1/5, andmultiplies through— a8a
again, for '/«o. This time he adds the terms together, to find the total value, 61.He©
then takes those second fractions, and splits them into pairs, one for each man. He 5
subtracts 1 one from the first of each the pair, multiplies both terms together, and :
adds them to give each man’s share. So % and % become % * %, or ¥%, and 1 + 8 is es
for the first share. % and '/s give '/is, or a share of 16, and '/ and % give 72, ms
~Award yourself a lot of extra points if you used this inductive method ratherthan
- something more.. _ sensible. se aS
Ba ee ae as 2
ee eed sa 3 wh 4

$ ‘ : : : es
ger Athe aP ni
 ANSWER 49. The trick to this puzzle is to convert the requirements into»
_ simultaneous equations, and see how many ways it can be solved. For each son, the ©
total number of each type of cask. added together will be 9, and when you multiply
those numbers by the amount of wine eachcan hold, they will sum to 18. It turns
out that there are eight possible solutions that give 9 casks and 18 pints. You then
need five different solutions from that eight that can be added together to give
just 9 of each type of cask. This can be done in three different ways. Labelling the
types of cask v-z from 4pt to empty. for brevity’ sake, one brother will always get
3v+w+x+y+3z. The other four will getany we pairs of: (v+3w+2x+y+2z and
- 2v+w+2x+3y+z), (v+3wtx+3y+z and 2v+w+3xty+2z), and (vt2wt3xt2y+z
~ and 2v+2w+x+2y+2z)

UN TZU'S
CLASSIC
PROBLEM
_ANSWER 50. The answer is 23. In general, for each divisor x, you have to find a
multiple of the other divisors that is one more than a multiple of x. Call this new
multiple a, You then multiply a by the remainder you got after dividing by x, and add
this sum to the equivalent figures from the other remainders. If the totalismore than—
your divisors multiplied together, subtract that value and check again. The nun
remaining is the answer. That produces a uniqiie result for any number of divisors,
so long as they are co-prime. So in this puzzle, *3 leaves 2, *5 leaves 3 and *7 leaves 2.
The first multiple of 5 *7 that is 1 greater than a multiple of 3 is 70. Similarly, for *5,~
it’s 21, and for x6, it’s 15. (2* 70)+ (3 *21) + (2* 15)=233. Subtract (31527) Oeeb
105, to get 128. Subtract it again to get 23. os
 HETROUBLE 7
Ben
De hoe

CAMELS £

se ge ‘
ANSWER 51. To solve this puzzle, you really feedtonotice that Yt Vs+ fy ioeto
~ ©/gths. The lawyer lends a camel to the herd, bringing it
it to 18 beasts. Then theeldest i
son gets 2, or 9 camels; the aie son ae Ys, or 6 caniels, andthe gat ae

HEaes a ins Be

ANSWER 5 2. No, the snail will never climb out. The amount ititclimbs ddepreciates :
ee by 10% aday, so on day two iitclimbs 1.8feet, then 1.62, 1.46, 1.31,1.18,1.06and
# efirially,on day eight, 0.95 feet. It loses a foot each night, so ifit hasn’ tmadeit out by —
the end of day eight, it may as well give up and enjoy the well. Its maximum height,
— which falls on day seven, will be the net result of each previous day's climbs (1+08
— +0.62 + 0.46 + 0.31 + 0.18) + thatday's pre- ==clita 06 =-a totalof 4, 43feet
. Se SE not quite.<closeenough, ee
Pg
ore agen iswe eee 53.cain s solistion iis ioahter but a proper dolution isi as follows. If it
eeeties t0dothe whole first load in one trip, it will arrive with no grain left, unable to
5 get back tothe origin. So it must do it in stages. Coming and going is inefficient,
ve: ase of t e camel's feedrequirement, so thesstagesvare placed’so as to minimise
travelled, whilstavoiding abandoning any grain.This puts
j them at 25%
mag 5 sca tee.The firsttrip, the camel starts with 30 ioglia of grain and travels
ren > toand ficm the 75 league mark, leaving 15 modia there‘and returning with 0. The
ee oeltrip,
ws camel starts with 30 modia again, eats 7.5:to stage 1, replenishes itself Ri
aeback to.30, continues on 0 tostage 2, drops off 7.5 modia, and then uses the remaining — $6
Seoed > going backk t«
to theorigin. In the final stage, the camel gfethe last 30, replenishes ro
s the 7-5it it faseeaten at stage 1, leaving nothing, and does the same at stage 2. Finally, iit.acti
~ travels the last 15 leagues, eating 15 modia, and arriving with 15 modia,me nO ae Sel :

Answer 54. Alcuin’s colucion 1 isopt

boat and crossed. Having crossed thTi
Then the sisters of the two men w
women had gotten out of the be ti 3
and brought the boat backtous, She ‘got « 6andthe two t brothers peseds
in the boat. Then, one of the.brothers and his sistercrossed over to us. However J
and the brother who piloted the ane went across while my siscer remained behind.
When we had been taken to the [other] side, one ofthe other women took the boat :
back across, and my sister came across to uss with herat the same time. Then the man
whose sister had remained on the other sidegot in
in theboat and brought iit back with
her. Thus the crossing was accomplished, withfoone ae oe
ys Eo Te
 Answer 55. No, it’s not possible in this instance. There wea posible solutions
which you can discover by considering the different ways off distributing the full
flasks in terms of the way 10 can factor down to three numbers, none gr
5. Alcuin divides them up into 10 half-full /.5 full 5 empty/5 full5
solutions give different distributions — 1f 8h le / 42h 4e / Sf Oh e and 21=
= / 3f 4h 3c / Sf 0h Se,but iin both cases, one son ends up with no ctl ani a
The remaining two give ¢each son at least one of each, but two’)sons get thesame me
- distribution~2f h 2c /4f 2h 4f/ 42h 4f and 3f 4h 3e / 3f4h 3e (42h 4E Nove
+ that the number of full and empty flasks is always the same; this stays true even ifthe
= _ number of flasks varies, anidis the reason why when factoring, we can't go above half
3 Eee theewe 6 full means 6 empty, which is more than the allowed share of dee panel
y * $ e

aoe
ou
ie ne : tc
;
* : ,

z % ws

tg tae"
ASHES. Alcuin’s answer is toee as.eam: with.the most expensive item,
ie and. thenjuggle the rest to mo tei a He says, “If you take 10 nine
times and add five, you get 95; thatis,19camels are bought for 95 solidi. Add to
this one solidus for an ass,making
m 96.Then, take 20 times four, making 80 - that
cats 20 sheep for four solidi. Add19 and one and 80, making 100. This is the number
of animals. Then add 95 and one and four, making 100 solidi. Hence there are 100
beasts and 100 solidi.” Whilst:nota general solution for puzzles of this type, it can at
least act as a Regula Falsi basis fora poluon.
ai? Bas le cet
 pee ee ae :
Shee
~Answer 57. To start with, the possible maximum hikers are bounded. 6 men,1 q
e
~~ woman alid2chirildren use
u up all the grain, as do 1 man, 8 women and 2 children, and 3
ae man, 1 weoman and 30 children. This gives you upper bounds. 2 men would need 3
Lg others, biethert 3 women would leave 16 children, and44women would leavej just. “Sag 4
12, so it’s not2 men. otmen need 17 others, but 1 bbs leaves 18 children, and 2
“Teave 14.With 4nmen, it’seven worse — right from the start, ‘there are too few people aes
“to reach 20. So it has to be 1 man, and by similar elimination, it turns out to be 5 ’
women andA children.
be dens

a
é‘ ae8
eres
Answer 58. The trick ito‘eae 3 iet0p
“bdbottom sant ie
in turn gives a constant value,so that enea ee and givesthen
you there
the answer.
ROAD. z
a 2ef0seep 6 Well
In this case, it is simplestto assume. there’s a
pairs of steps adding up to 100 (100+0, 99+1, etc); down tooes 50 remains as :
an odd central step. So the answer is age +50,or 5050. =; Penn 3

Shetek YY a
 Answer 59. The ‘beast’ is a comb, which was made of iivory. The two heads refertO
the carved ends of the comb, which were in the shape of lions’ heads. — em i
|

é :

; , :
ea, Answer 60. The most; straightforward way to tackle this problem is just to count.
ee SAG second to last man|would have been standing in 16th place.
SEES, ier es fee ae
eae "3 %

x
a
%
oe

: )
a
a
a ;

“Answer 61. From a starting point of zero, speeds of 10mph and 15mph diverge at a
rate of % of an hour per10 miles travelled. We need a gap of 2 hours between them,
so that’s 6*%hrs, and 6*10 miles or 60 miles. It takes six hours to do that distance at
10mph, and 4 at 15mph, so sunset is 5 hours away, and the required speed is ®/ or
 St swer 62. Youscan
Pe
de *
solve this by trial and error, but it is painstaking. A better
~ approac
prs
to convert the four iterations into simultaneous equations with five .
3 -unkno the original total, after the first sailor, after the second sailor, after the
oe third
dsail
s ;andin the morning. Reducing these equations Joue will leave you with
cee esulting equation i
in two unknowns, which is much easier to figure out. It helps to
ae realize that each time, the pile thatis being hidden mustitself be divisible by 3 if the
~~ monkey’s one coconut is added. The equations you derivecan be reduced further,
Z sai
~ but the.answer is
i that there were 79 coconuts initially. 2. e343

of birds they contain. There arenexaae ibeae (i 1);(b) 1 duck and 2ones (3
for 3); (c) 2 ducks, 1 dove mt 2 larks (5 for 5);)s(d) 2 — and 3 ringdoves (also'5 ee
for 5); and (e) 3 ducks and 4 larks (7 for 7).The. challenge then becomes finding how. 2
many ways you can combine these groups to hit 100, which is a more manageable ik,
question. You need at least one of (a) and’ (d), and ther
at least either one or more R
of (c)or one or more ofboth (b) and (e). Note (b)+(c) saat(c)+(d) both equal 10
birds, and using these groups, any amount ofshortfallcanbe fade up with hens.
 na
Bee ge
ee 4a!
ie -

Answer 64. It’s.an onion, but the riddle is interesting forte ee

displays on the part of the church at the time. ee a poe os
es 1 66.Thewheels are used for generating a full sequencé of binary tokens.
*“The smaller wheel represents all possible two-digit tokens, ie. the numbers 0-3,
a but not n in sequence; the larger wheel similarly represents1three--digit tokens, the
itt numbers 0 0-7. Starting from one point, read your two for three) digits clockwise :
= round the‘wheel. For the next digit, move clockwise¢ one position. So the small =a
us wheel[isactually code for 0,0; 0,1; 1,1; 1,0. Itis possible toconstruct memory wheels
1forat an arbitrary number of digits; the number of positions in the wheel will be 1 al
- greater than the maximum number the largest token ‘can describe. The Sanskrit bee
Ay Kchth ebhAnasilagAm is actually the same device — it is a nonsense word, ate a
with longaand short syllables representing binary positions: It can be renderedjustas_ ‘ 4
easily as 1000101110, where a short ‘a’ syllable isa 1 anda long ‘A’ syllable iisa 0.Te“3~ Se
was used to remember the eight poetic forms, or Ganas, of Sanskrit poetry. The two rae
extra digits, in this instance, are there as duplications of the |first two, because the
4 oe
BES a Tekno Pa hank
& word iis not laid out ina circle

Answer 67. A little careful examination should make theancient Chinese systern,
of Rod Numerals fairly obvious. The Triangle iisele is easy ‘to figure out if you start
from the top: the nodes in each line are the sum of thenodes feeding into it from the
line above. We know this as Pascal’s Triangle, andi itis a surprisingly powerful and
intricate tool for being such a simple construction.
+
 “he TROUBL G
POOITAS se
€
RABBITS
Answer 69. When s we start, we have 1 pair. In the first month, the rabbits give
—_ < birth to a new pair, for 2 pairs. In the second month, just the first rabbits breed
re - again,producing 3pairs. In the third month, the first new pair also breeds, so we
a a - get“two more. pairs, for a total of 5. In the fourth month, we have three breeding
a ~ pairs, for a total of 8 - and so on for 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233 and finally 377.
ng The pattern 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,... should be familiar: it is the Fibonacci Sequence,
named Se who set ie puzzle in the Liber Abaci. It is one the best-known
mathematical sequences, and finds«expression throughout nature, art and science.
ya mee
» ee “ge F=
* i
:
7 < ‘
wn wi ess wt
 : as sae ae “2

Pattee ae S : 7 | tae multiplications, the different ebewicrts of the answer — es

oe ee : 1,fingernumber andj joint number — are put into separate digits of the -
Pee
“ Reg g e T a k e away 350,
Nie the base value of the first set of multiP lications, and the +a
faSikeyae ee theresult give you seat, finger and joint. For ex:mpSee, someone in the he 8th8t =
aan
ws ve * ‘seatcowith aa
{ring c the 2nd joint of finger 4, will resultina total of 8°2 =16, +5 = _ ::
i Ne +10 = 115. (115 + 4)*10 =1190, and +2£1192, 1192-350. 842,00"
©4,*5 =105; oa
Be “ BO i Aebrank backdowns 8- 4-2. ye” BF sia ie
: : nee ae cages ze SE oe «3 “! saps
5 ee ee s SP ; ee ee
ad BRO Sa: EE § * of 4 ce PE % s x. *

fag’ seh. 5 ‘ yo SS ae oe oe -
me| ah sete Sr S88 par eee Gon ae
th ~ a! : = a ce ae
:
. te zeae FoR es

ie Se.
oe hes
: . i : %

? i
ee %. ;
PN = Ac SE we , < oe,

- ¢ he a eee ae Pe
z AS F a A EE
P< 3th & by Se ed Wise aS Bd oa
- ZW) yd : PER $53 ;
= ak :
ayeas Peee 2
sh Sean
A
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i
hes ‘
Waa
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id Bowe ere ee een aca gee a 4

Answer 71. Fibonacci roe
ase ve tl his puzzle. list he” a
points out that from the“9p.) h
“ican to the welland back up pte s
sitds arr rive at the same time, so the length <<" oe
- Assuming t
that the taller tower is
A |e , then from. Pythagoras's Theofem; we |
| ee know that A? + 40? = 22 + 302,Teonan he says,, Suppose Ais 10, making Z 40.
$4! | Seem Then that side of the equation will be 100 + 1600 (1700),and the other side will be :
aii 1600 + 900 (2500). That’s an erroneous imbalance of 800. Try again with A=15 an Pa 3
: Zi" 7 Z=35. Now we get 1825= 2125, which is an imbalance of300. We have increased A :
;elds eet aes by 5 and found that we are 500 closer to our answer. We need to be 300 closer still. .Avco0
ai so increase A by 3. A=18 and Z=32 gives us
Sess Thewell is 18 paces
i — from the taller tower. se Ra 5. ae Sea
 Answer 72. There isn’t any general solution to this problem, bussre: dering the het Ss.
limits of the jugs as a graph and exploring and moving from ‘béuite | : Eton. Rs,
boundary node can help. Anyhow. The optimal answer is to take the-follo cae ieee Sx a ieds
Fill the 3pt jug empty itinto the Spt jug, fill the 3pt jug from the Spt jugagai ent 2 ee =
fill the Spt jug from 3ptjug. This gives you Ipt in the 3pt jugs Spt in the5,and dap: ;
in the 8. Empty the Spt jugiinto the Spt and empty the Ipt into the Spo giving you seas AG
3 0, 1 and 7pts. Then fill the 3pt from the 7pt, and empty the a intothe Spt. Now iae
eS: both 5 and8 contain Apts os Raa ee . . = Nes
3
fs
: i
ale3 - 5 .
,
: +. e ae ra

ae have bed
yogis it’sa nail
<n eS

. eae ee aah alee <

ars Sethe Megas Sages
4
oisos Fae (e Paice 5 ee: S,
?
if : see art

a: - Bs

; 5 MS oak ee
ee eS ee s

« % a Ae, %

a a Seen eae
I a
3 fe on | ¥
| and thread.
"Answer74, It is a needle Pa
aes

ae : Q a
Ben
} RORY De ee :
ae af aS €

ope Soot.
Be ae
wie Hg

4, iS
cape 23 pe “ay

soe

Answer 76. If you draw a circle passing exactly through the top and bottom points
of the painting, so that it just touches the eye-level line at one tangential point, that.
spot where the circle meets the eye-level line is the point of maximum angle width.
The distance of this spot from the wall is equal to the square root of the sum of the
squares of the height of the top and bottom of the painting. —
Mees
 PROBLEM
OF POINT
Answer 77. Pacioli’s answer, to split the pot according to che number ofrounds
won up to then, is problematic. What ifthe game is interrupted after justone ortwo
rounds? It wasn’t until Pascal and Fermat started discussing the issue in ‘the 17%th:
century that a good solution was found. The answer is that the division’ofthe pot ‘a :
must depend on the different probable outcomes of the game at thatpoint, p rather
than on any detail of its history. By working out all the possible remaining outcomes,
and tallying which fall to which player, it becomes possible to fairly divide the pot.
Ifone player is 95% certain to win, that player should get 95% of the spoils. A lotof
modern probability theory derives from Pascal’s and Fermat’s work on this puzzle.

Ba %

% ages
Answer 78. The riddle referstoa walnut.
ive o .. < ’ ; m: by .
 ee e ss3."Diagonal (the nnumbers orthogonally adjacent to opposing corner squares are
Vai eee
" ee ecothe “two.‘groups in this set), % ee ae
. F "r. 4 é s tg
5“a ‘ . = 4 eDindine the‘square into quarters, ‘ <ee
|ears Set Taking the top or bottom half of each such quarter withthe same sectionnof thevear. “ba
a :
AS eee © quarter below it, sid) “e s
hae R32 ok the
tes %, vs 4 “6 Taking the left or right half sfeach quarter with the same
s section
on ecute eae * .
* a foie Lue next toit, pees cee
Fagsae os ‘& olan
; ee ey issa

: ae
pees = cee

% £3, ‘
% ca be 8.

: 9:
10.

e J):

ea
12. Taking cells clockwiseor anti-cl oe fash
Bee Pee
: thequarcers in
i tur “as you
che. aa : aa
ers Me opssertng
top left and boregphtacd the
cuak : ae rotate Siactel iseaspice
progress, but the other two0 ro
rotate lopems “ae 1s Re ae a Be a
13. Taking the central fourcells ( ou oFfour ee, Femaning Sor
horizontally, oe andds 2 yee gone
eo chore ae *
 rian Mate tes eee, a ee Ge

4
: Vat heer gee x
SRR ie ar 6: L.A aac mmarking the hours will strike 90 times from the first stroke of
%. ris midc totthelaststroke of midnight .SEvice€ versa)
 yards
- Answer 82.Ifyou hada third numeric detail about the men, women and children,
a: yo ucould turn this into a problem of simultaneous equations. As it is, you can
Pe seect of the terms, and use trial and error on the remaining terms to find the ;
: 51men, 3 women and 33 children.
gm gt wahewebethete are ft
<j agge Feige ne ge 3
; Pe set : : . %
é a
dhe Meee
1 gear
| eae ah cig s
q
y

% Ps ss
re eeA
+ e

Ie
i , s

Wee Answer 83. The simplest approach to thisis Rigel Fali- = starewich‘helandiond
‘
2 first, and then work round to see who is left. Once you the relative pe ng
of start and end point, it’s easy to‘rotate that round some ta .
4 Counting clockwise, with the landlord i in position 2,thesia you‘count,
i should be number 6. ; :
4

Answer 84. The solution is the sun. © SER eo Wa "

(presen
Aon
 *

atte

Answer 85. The key to this problem is to think of the possible statesesthat a ae can
be in - tipped left,balanced and tipped right. This gives you three possible state
es.To.
account for these states, you need to spread your weights in powers « of
ee A
of 1, 3, 9 and 27 are all you need to balance any weight of up to 40, their: combined
total. For some loads, you'll need to add weights to both sides of the Seale}but that
is perfectly reasonable. In general, a set of ternary weights like this will allow y
you to :
measure up to 150% of theheaviest single weight. &
2

ees Oddly <Aoteithify you «cut your hole’across a slanted diagonal of your
original ‘cube,
« you can actually fita larger cube through iit. The maximum size turns
out to be% (root 2) — or 1.06 — timess the guigpnal.
cae
oa lke pcuitcive suspicion was es ae largest roll-was the easiest. It’s
case, though. You ;are more likely to make the six-die roll. Newton pointed
so could iimagine the 12-die roll as two sets of the 6-die roll, and the 18-
Sale rollasth2asets. To make the 6-die set, you only have to achieve success once.
The other
0 setseffectively require you to make the roll more than once. The relative
. - probabilities aren’t that simple—you can roll more than:3sixes in the 18-die roll, at
.~ which point you
y can’t quite keep the principle holding true, The 6-die roll has a 0. 66 ¢
_chance, the12-
-die col a 0.62 chance, and the 18-die roll'a 0.60 chance.
a Erte a

me* 5

e,
ii
>,ecg
Answer 88. They: areeeoin te eAefour mei
man is the deceased, in a coffin.
S}

ae fs moore Bee!
Be ns
a
s,
re
-
Bea
re
ee
he
wet
Ve
Oe

ees
Ce
y cee
Wikaee
es. %at eas
es
Phas
eter
Sap
ete
pee
ee
Bee
<
ee
Ae
_
EE
Be
Lo
 wee : “j
Pen : So Pie: ia Pa ee
Answer 89. The traditional answer is a watch. aie
Ne Pi
oo Mee Rasecies y
ot
ar $8 x een ie ® os ‘y
1% a ue eae joe

™ eee
BS ie ee cant es

S |
2% . | Sette ae eg. :

DGE
~~ ¢ Pia
un AUT Sh Ta Fe 0ey Dyer
- ess
oh he © :agin

om wei

B R I
O F E R
I GS B
-K O N
= bee sf eSeh point (node) musteither be canfecced by an even number
AY KBoflinesor amoddnumber of‘lines. If you are to be able to walk each line and return
“to where ° }you started (a ‘closed Euler walk’), then you must be able to leave every
node jyou enter — in other words, every node must be even. If you accept starting in
one node and ending in a different‘one, an open Euler walk, there must be exactly
two nodes which are odd. If you look at.the bridges asa graph, you'll see that there
a are. four.nodes (north bank, south bank, big island and small island), and all four
have an odd number of lines. No. Eulerwalkis possible.
i ye
i?

ie
 a>
ae

+
e Sa
“$F

aa

oS
KG ee
KCC

th
eae
ey
eeegi te 2
ee ; ere a ; ce

ee Pte |
4 seueerroom toprogress. Then look back over your progress. Somewhere, there will
sae A Bhs a node that hasan exit you haven't already used. Go back to that and start a new =
, we oS walk, using only lines you have not already used, then splice the new walk into the :
Me previous walk. Repeat until the whole graph is covered, and you will have asingle a
Hee SS
~ composite walk. There are obviously lots of different ways of making a Euler walk in
Oe eg a figure thiscomplex,
but one would be as follows: A-D-I-K-J-A-B-C-B-H-C-D-F-
- FH-K-E-E-H-G-LE-A-G. : a
*
* * ®

oe
as ass ah Sie

Zz * eae -
ce the top and bottom. To compensate, and give it enough slack to get to half the area
of the field, the rope needs to be longer. (As a point of interest, it needs to be 1.16
the length of the radius of the field), ce ‘
Answer 93. The chance of any given needle toss crossing aseam
m depends largely
on the angle (x) that the needle makes to the horizontal. The closer the needleto,
perpendicular, the longer it will seem relative to the perpendicular ‘gap between oe
the lines. This effective length iis the sine of the angle of the needle, so solving the‘i
specific question of each angle’s chance requires solving sin(x). Without getting wie
es
the maths too much, sine waves are fundamentally derived from circular motion
through time, and Buffon’s problem requires the use of pi in order to solve the sine
function. In simpler terms, because the angle of the needle varies, the point of the —
needle effectively becomes a point on a circle (imagine a coin landing between the
seams), and this brings pi into the mix, from where it can then be worked out once
you know the probability.

Answer 94. The riddle refers re a shotgun. ;

2
 oe

Answer 96. Soone as the monks leave the centre reals ie each row empty, cihey
can distribute nine people in one linked pair of corner. cells as they wish, and then
use thesame pattern, reversed, for the other pair of cells. So, for example, theycould —
have 5 people top left and bottom right, and 4 top right and bottom left. However
they arrange it, thereare nine in each row, and only 18 of the 24 accounted for. pan
When it comes to smuggling tthe girlsi in,the trick is to empty the corner cells and ep J
put nine people in
i each centre cell, fora total of36. eee ny ee
ts
a : zs
 HC GAPIIVE
QUcch
Answer 97. The puzzle is reminiscent of Alcuin’s River Crossing, in that multiple
journeys back and forth are required. First one basket is pulled up, and the stone
dropped in. It sinks, and the empty basket comes up. The son gets in, and the stone
returns. The daughter takes the stone out and gets in, and sinks to the ground,
returning the son to the top. Both daughter and son get out, the son puts the stone
in, and the empty basket returns. The daughter then gets in with the stone at the
bottom, and the queen gets in at the top, lowering the queen and raising the daughter
and the stone. Both the daughter and the queen get out, and the stone drops, leaving
the empty basket with the son and daughter at the top, and the stone with the queen
at the bottom. The son gets in again, and drops, raising the stone. The daughter
replaces the stone with herself, and drops down, raising her brother. The son and
daughter both get out. Now the queen and her daughter are at the bottom, and the
son and the stone are at the top. The son puts the stone in, which drops, and then
gets in the empty basket. He drops to the ground and gets out to join his family.
Finally, the stone crashes back to earth again as the queen and her children leave.

(inswer 98. The area of a rectangle is width * height, and this is going to equal the
area of the path, 3630*1 yards. As height = width + 0.5, then width (x) becomes x
* (x+0.5) = 3630, or x* + x*0.5 = 3630. The highest square number under 3630 is
3600, the square of 60 — and half 60 is 30. So the garden is 60 yards wide.
 IGHT QUEENS
Us

inswer 99. There are a dozen unique solutions to the problem — and almost :
4.5 billion different possible arrangements of the eight queens. There is a general a
solution for placing X queens on an X by X board, as long as X is more than 4. First bP .
of all, divide X by 12 and remember the remainder (Z). In our puzzle, that’s still 8. ‘
Write down all the even numbers between | and X in order, but if Z is 3 or 9, move
~ 2.to last place. Now follow this with all the odd numbers between 1 and X in order,
except that if Z is 8, take the numbers in pairs, and swap their order — so 3, 1, 7, 5,
etc. Then, if Z is 2, switch the positions of 1 and 3, and move 5 to the end of the list
or, if Z is 3 or 9, move 1 and 3 to the end of the list. Now the list of numbers you
have gives the row number of each queen as you place it in turn from 1 to X. For this
puzzle, that gives usa list of 2, 4, 6, 8, 3, 1, 7,5, and queens at 2a, 4b, 6c, 8d, 3, 1f, 7g,
_and 5h. Of course, you might have arrived at one of the other 11 solutions manually, _
but this iss theeasiest way to do it once you know how.

HEDINNER
PARTY ye
(nswer 100. There is just one guest. The Governor has a brother and a sister, who
are themselves married to a sister and brother pair. He also has a wife, whohasno
siblings. All six of them are grandchildren of the same couple — that is, they are all _ 4
first cousins. The Governor’s father has a brother, who is the father of the governor’s
wife, and a sister, who is the mother of the governor's siblings’ spouses, It is to be _
hoped that the Governor’s father and his siblings married spouses from separate
families! Note also that marriage between fitst cousins, whilst not pee
advisable on genetic grounds, is not generally illegal.
 Ne MONKEY AND
THE PUllboEY
Answer 101. Imagine the monkey is suddenly one yard higher. Because it is then
nearer to the pulley than the weight is, the force of the monkey’s mass has greater
moment, and the monkey will sink back down again until the two weights are
balanced. In other words, as the monkey climbs, the weight will rise with it — half of
the monkey's effort will go to lifting it, and the other half to lifting the weight.

IRKM\AN’S
PN. SCHOOLGIR dd
Answer 102. There are fifteen girls, so for each individual schoolgirl, there are
14 other girls, who can thus be arranged in seven pairs. So it is possible, yes. The
generalised mathematical method for reaching asolution is quite arcane — the puzzle
represents a combinatorial Steiner Triple with parallelism — but there are seven
possible group arrangements (which can obviously be shuffled around different days
at will). One such solution, if the girls are lettered A - O, would be:
ABC, DEF, GHI, JKL, MNO;
AFI, BLO, CHJ, DKM, EGN;
ADH, BEK, CIO, FLN, GJM;
AGL, BDJ, CFM, EHO, IKN;
AEM, BHN, CGK, DIL, FJO;
AJN, BIM, CEL, DOG, FHK; and
AKO, BFG, CDN, EJ), HLM.
ie 108, Whilst it is tempting to say that the bat has lost $10, this isn’t —
strictly true. The price of the hat includes a profit margin, p, which we don’t know,
‘The hatter hasn’t lost p, because he never had it in the first place. So he has lost $10-
porto put itanother wap the cost of replacing the hat plus the $3.70 in change he 3

handed over. :
%

He TRAVELLING
“nswer 104. Unlike Euler graphs, there is no. easy way to tell for sure whether
a Hamilton graph has a solution or not. You just have to examine the graph and
explore the possibilities. In this case, no, there is no Hamilton route.
 THIOPIAN
> % MATHEMATICS
nswer 105. The Ethiopian system is actually a highly sophisticated physical
implementation of binary, the system computers work in. The second column,
dividing the $22 value of each bull by two until 1 is reached, is in fact just calculating
the binary equivalent of the number. Working from the first hole down, if stones
means | and no stones means 0, we get 10110, which is 22 in binary. Each digit in
binary is one of the powers of two (1, 2, 4, 8, etc), where 1 means ‘include that’ and
0 means ‘don’t include’ -- so 10110 is 16 + (not 8) + 4 +2 + (not 1). If the second
column is calculating the binary value for a number, then the first column is just a
handy way of multiplying that number. By starting from the unit value, 7, and then
doubling, each column becomes 7* that binary digit. 14 is 7*2, 28 is 7*4, and so on.
Because 22 is 10110, 7*22 is (not 7*1) + 7*2 +7*4 + (not 7*8) + 7*16, and adding
those stones gives you your final answer. The system will always work - for whole
numbers, anyway.

ANTOR’S
INPINITIES
Answer 106. It turns out that the notion of ‘larger’ has to be broadly discarded at
infinity. On the one hand, the natural numbers are trivially twice as numerous as the
even numbers. On the other hand, both sets are trivially infinite, and therefore the
same size. It gets worse, though. For any given set, there is a Power set, which consists
of all of the possible subsets derived from that set, and it is easily provable that a
Power set is considerably larger than its original set. So what about the Power set of
the natural numbers? Cantor’s answer was to describe different levels of infinity in
terms of their relative countability — the natural numbers and the even numbers are
both countable, and thus are at the lowest ordinal rank of infinity, known as Aleph
Null. If a set contains N items, its Power set contains 2% items — Cantor described
this as the first level of uncountable infinity, Aleph One. Cantor’s work on infinity
is startlingly beautiful, even spiritual in some odd senses — he himself believed it
was told to him by God — and is well worth a closer look than the very, very brief
treatment given here.
Answer 107. The riddle refers to tomorrow, which never truly comes.

- ESSERACT
inswer 108. On the tesseract map given, any four numbers in one quadrilateral
shape add up to 34, and, taken clockwise, give a line of a magic square. The other ©
three quadrilateral planes parallel to that one in the map give you the other lines of
the square. So starting top left with the simple square 13-2-7-12, the squares 3-16-9-
6, 10-5-4-15 and 8-11-14-1 complete the rows of a 4-order square.

OD) ERTRANO’S
BOX
Answer 109. The intuitive assumption is that the chance is %. You've picked one
gold, so the box was either GG or GS, and you have either G or $ left. This iswrong.
The mistake is in forgetting that each box holds two coins, and therefore gives you
two possible pathways. The two golds in GG may be the same functionally, but they
are very different probabilistically. Let’s rename GG as gl g2, and leave the GS pair
as GS. You may have G, in which case the other coin is $, you may have gl, in which
case it is g2, or you may have g2, in which case it is gl. So there are three possibilities,
and two of them are gold; the possibility is %4. This is the foundation of a card scam
using the same set-up (with blank cards colour-marked on both sides). The scammer
offers a 2—1 return on a different colour when the selected card is flipped, knowing
the odds are %4, and he'll win big in the long run.
 OTHING OST

Answer 110. The digits from 9 down to 1 sum up to 45. Ifyou arrange them in
order as two nine digit numbers, 987654321 and 123456789, you can subtract the
lesser from the greater to leave a nine-digit number that itself uses each of the digits
from 1 to 9 once, 864197532. Summing each of the numbers in your calculation, all
three will add to 45.

IsBERT'S
HOTEL]
Answer {i1. There is no limit to numbers in infinity. Although the hotel already
has an infinite number of guests, filling an infinite number of rooms, VALIS can
transport each current guest to the room whose number is twice their current room
number. That frees up all the odd numbers, of which there are an infinite number,
and the new arrivals can be jaunted in. Note that that’s not the only way that the
room space can be expanded; VALIS could move everyone up one space, book the
next guest in, and repeat infinitely. Of course, that would take infinitely long...
Because it is so counter-intuitive — but totally accurate - some thinkers (often
religious ones) have taken Hilbert’s Hotel to imply the non-existence of infinity.
 NENPATER
PROG
Answer 12. It is easy to see the solution to this when you think about the fact that
es

the total volume of liquid in the two barrels must be conserved. Wine and water
displace equal amounts of each other, so any amount of wine polluting the water
mustbe equalled by an identical amount of water in the wine. The two mixtures are
of equal purity.

HE BARBER
PARADOX
“nswer 113. No clear logical solution exists to the problem; it is inherently self-
contradictory. One possible get-out is that the barber shaves himself, but only in his
capacity as a private citizen, not whilst he is on duty as the barber. Russell himself
noted that if you reduce the question to the underlying mathematics of set theory, it
is inherently meaningless, and therefore no logical solution can be expected.

AMBMAVS AGE
\:/
(Answer 114. The age of Mamma must have been 29 years 2 months; that of Papa, 4
35 years; and that of the child, Tommy, 5 years 10 months. Added together, these —
make seventy years. The father is six times the age of the son, and, after 23 years 4 i
months have elapsed, their united ages will amount to 140 years, and Tommy will be
just half the age of his father.
Answer 115. The intuitive answer — that if you cut ¥% of the way along, the area of
the remaining triangle will be the same as the remaining square third — will not work.
The extra moment of force from the elongated side has to be taken into account.
Dudeney says that the correct ratio of the balance point along the long side turns
out not to be % to %, but 1 to (root 3), equivalent to multiplying the length by 0.366
to find the balance point. He provides a practical proof: place your cardboard on a
larger sheet of paper, and draw an equilateral triangle with base equal to the base of
the card, overlapping and extending above the card. Mark a position from one of
the upper corners of the card as far in as the card is high (squaring the shorter side).
Then take the diagonal of that square, and extend it out above the card to the edge
of the equilateral triangle. The point where it intersects the triangle edge is, when
drawn straight back down to the base, the point of balance. Note that this balance
point is independent of the height of the card.

ITE PROBLEM

(inswer 116. Dudeney points out that the volume of a sphere of diameter X is
equal to that of a circular cylinder of X diameter and two-thirds X in height. In
other words, the cylinder equivalent would be 16" tall, and 24" diameter. This can
then be seen as a myriad of 16" wire circles packed together into the cylinder, The
ratio of the area of two circles is in proportion to the ratios of the squares of their
diameters. The square of !/100 (the diameter of the wire) is '/1o00, and the square of 24
is 576, so the number of wire ‘circles’ that can fit in the cylinder is 5,760,000. Each
wire is 16" long, so the wire would be a massive 92,160,000" long, or 1,454 miles and
2,880 feet — a mile is 1,760 yards long.
 He BARRE]
OR-BEGR
Answer 117. We know that we need to add all the barrels to a total divisible by
three with one left over. The total of all six is 119. That's not divisible by three,
so removing 15 or 18 would be no help. Further more, 119 is two above 117, the
previous number divisible by three, so subtracting a number that is just 1 above
being divisible by three — i.e. 31, 19 and 16 — is also no use. The only barrel that is 2
numbers above a multiple of 3 is 20, so that is the beer. Remove that, and you have
99 left, divided into 66 to one man and 33 to the other.

He CENTURY
Puzzle
finswer 118. You can go a fair way towards eliminating impossible options for this _
puzzle with digital root theory, and somefirst-principle deductions will help, such
as being unable to use numbers with repeated digits. However, the problem remains
quite challenging. The answer is 3+°*/714

HC bABOURER’
PUZZLE
Answer 119. The man is going twice as deep as he has done so far, so when finished,
the hole will be three times its present depth. We know that when depth D = 3D;
then head height H = -2H, and that D < 5ft 10, and 3D > 5f 10 and 3D < 11 8.
Therefore D can only be 3ft 6 (so H is 2ft 4), and when finished, H will be -4ft 8 and
D ae be 10ft S
 Answer 120. Like Dudeney says, “One is scarcely prepared for the fact that the
field, in order to comply with the conditions, must contain exactly 501,760 acres,
the fence requiring the same number of rails. Yet this is the correct answer, and the
only answer, and if that gentleman in Iowa carries out his intention, his field will
be twenty-eight miles long on each side. I have, however, reason to believe that
when he finds the sort of task he has set himself, he will decide to abandon it; for
if that cow decides to roam to fresh woods and pastures new, the milkmaid may
have to start out a week in advance in order to obtain the morning’s milk.”

IERROT'S
PUZSbC
Answer 121. There are just six ways of doing this in total. The initial 15 * 93
= 1395, plus 9.* 351 =.3159; 21%. 87 = 1287, 27.8 |. 218708". 473. =.3 84,
and 35 * 41 = 1436.

HE FOUR
SCVENS
: Answer 122. The only way to do it is to use a bit of cheek, and imply a couple of non-
: available Os. (7/.7) * (7/.7) works out at 10*10, or 100. This works for any number, of
| course; x/(x/10) is the same as x * (10/x), which cancels out to give you 10.
 ( GUBBINS-
NM IN THE fOGA
“Answer 123. The candles must have burnt for three hours and three-quarters. One
candle had one-sixteenth of its total length left and the other four-sixteenths.

HE BASKETOF
PpoTATOes
Answer 124. Dudehey states that to find the distance, you should multiple aeates
the number of potatoes(p) by (p-1) and (2p-1), and then divide by 3.50, 49 and 99
multiply together for 242,550, which is 3 times 80,850 yds — or almost 46 miles.

HE LOCKERS:
(inswer 125, The smallest total you can get in the hundreds column is going to be.
2+ 1 =3. That leaves you a minimum tens column of 0 + 4 =5, achieved by having
7 + 9 = 16 in the last column, giving you 107 + 249 (although obviously each digit
could be swapped by its counterpart in the previous line as you see fit) = 356. The |
highest total, by similar logic, must have 9 in the hundreds column, and you can —
contrive it to have 8 in the tens column, with numbers summing to 7 above it. The
highest possible combination here is 245+736 (or an equivalent counterpart)=981.
This leaves you the digits 0, 2, 4 and 7 for the sum of the central cupboard. There are
three possible sums, 134 + 568= 702, 134 + 586 =720, and 138 + 269 =407.
a ow

DP
MAIsTIPlICATION
Answer 126. The answer is that 32,547,891 * 6 = 195,287,346, and congratulations
if you discovered it.

URIOUS
NUMBERS”
Answer 127. It’s not an easy problem to solve without some computing assistance.
As Dudeney says, the next three numbers after 48 are 1,680, 57,120 and 1,940,448.
You could probably arrive at 1,680 with some trial and error but if you got the other |
two, you've done well indeed — even if you thought to use a computer program!

HANGING
PlACES
Answer 128. Dudeney points out that there are thirty-six pairs of times when the
hands exactly change places between three p.m. and midnight. The number of pairs
of times from any hour (n) to midnight is the sum of the first (12-n+1) natural
numbers. In the case of the puzzle n = 3; therefore 12 - (3 + 1)=8and1+2+
34+4+5+6+7 + 8 = 36, the required answer. The first pair of times is 3h 21
57/143m and 4h 16 !!?/143m, and the last pair is 10h 59 *3/143m and 11h 54 '8/143m.
He gives the following formula by which any of the sixty-six pairs that occur from
midday to midnight may be at once found, if (a) is an hour, and (b) is a different,
later hour: (720b+60a/143) mins after a, and (720a+60b/143) mins after b. From
these equations, you can find that the time nearest 45m is at 11h 44 8/143m, which
is paired to 8h 58 1°6/143m.
 HE NING
COUNTERS
(Answer 129. BeGasse only one of the four numbers involved is three-digit, it j
should be reasonably clear that the hundreds digit needs to be low, and the,tens “9
digitsof the other multiplication will need to be high. Even so, youll need a certain.
amount ofree to get to the answer, but 174 * 32 = 96 *58= 5568.

oes RIDING
Answer 130. The third and fourth quarters are equal, and equal to the total of the a
first and second quarters, so the time forthe gosthree quarters i:
is % of the total time. See
* 6,75/0.75 BivesDaminutes.” <9" Gong a
ss
 HE SPOT ON
Mae TABISE
“Answer 1351. Dudeney says, “The ordinary schoolboy would correctly treat this as
a quadratic equation. Here is the actual arithmetic. Double the product of the two
distances from the walls. This gives us 144, which is the square of 12. The sum of
the two distances is 17. If we add these two numbers, 12 and 17, together, and also
subtract one from the other, we get the two answers that 29 or 5 was the radius, or
half-diameter, of the table. Consequently, the full diameter was 58 in. or 10 in. But
a table of the latter dimensions would be absurd, and not at all in accordance with
the illustration. Therefore the table must have been 58 in. in diameter. In this case
the spot was on the edge nearest to the corner of the room — to which the boywas
pointing. Ifthe other answer were admissible, the spot would be on the edge ries
from the corner of the room.”

“AT CHING
TCs Gt
Answer 132. The constable took thirty steps. In the same time the thief would take
forty-eight, which, added to his start of twenty-seven, carried him seventy-five steps.
This distance would be exactly equal to thirty steps of the constable.
 THE TIME?
(inswer 133. Regula Falsi works nicely for this puzzle. Say it’s 83pm. Then a quarter
of the time from noon is 2hrs, and a half of the time to the following noon is 8hrs.
The totalis 2hrs too much. Try 9pm, giving you 2.25hrs before and 7.5hrs after.
That’s 9.75hrs, or 45 minutes too much. So an hour extra is worth 1,2Shrs. You need ~
to decrease the gap by .75 hrs. 0.75/1.25 is 0.6, or 36 minutes. The time is 9.36pm.
A quarter of the time from noon is 2h 24m, and half the time to next noon is 7h
12m, or 9h 36m.

HE THIRTY-
THREE PEARLS
(inswer 134. The big oa must be AO <6 £3,000. The Beat on one\eend iissent
£1,400, and on the other end £600.
 He THREE
Vi llsAGES
Answer 155. The villages A, B, C form a triangle. The line from B to a point on
AC (let’s call it O) is 12 miles, and forms a square angle. So we also have two right- _
angled triangles, OBA and OBC, where OB is 12. We know that the sides are all
exactly whole numbers, and that the two hypotenuses AB and BC are 35 in total,
and unequal, so OB has to be the longer side of OBA and the shorterside of OBC.
The simplest Pythagorean triple, (3, 4, 5), isa good place to start, indicated by OB’s -
length of 12 being divisible by both 3 and 4. If 12 is the longer (4) side of OBA,
then each other length is multiplied by 3, and OA is 3*3 (9) and AB is 3*5 (15).
Similarly, for OBC, the lengths are *4, to give OC as 4*4 (16) and BC as 5*4 (20).
AB + BC = 15 + 20= 35, so we're right, and the distances are AB=15, BC=20 Sa
AC=9+16=25.

TERNAL
as

inswer 136. The letter ‘e’.

HE ViblbAGE
SIMPLETON
Answer 137. It’s Sunday. If the day after tomorrow is yesterday, that’s three days
in the future; if the day before yesterday is tomorrow, that’s three days in the past.
The only way that three days either way can be equidistant from Sunday is if today
is Sunday.
 eae
finswer 138. As Dudeney says, “There are eleven different times in twelve ee
when the hour and minute hands ofa clock are exactly one above the other, Ifwedivide ;
12 hours by 11 we get 1 hr. 5min, 27 3/11 sec., and this is the time after twelve oclock
when they are first together, and also the time that elapses between one occasion of _
the hands being together and the next. They are together for the second time at 2 hr.
10 min. 54 6/1: sec, (twice the above time); next at 3 hr, 16 min. 21 °/n sec.; next at
4hr.21 min. 49 1/1 sec. Keep going, and you will find that this last is the only occasion —
on which the two hands aretogether with the second hand just past the he
iogond: This, then, is the time attench the watch musti baxestopped.” ;
=
ene :
Sette

HE SPIDER
AND. THE FLY
(inswer 139. If the spider travels orthogonally, the distance to the fly is 42 feet —
11 feet to the floor, 30 feet to the other wall, and J foot back up. A shorter distance
can be found if you flatten the room out into a 2-D construction template, with one —
end wall attached to the ceiling space, and the other to the floor space. A straight
line between these two points on the template corresponds toa diagonal path across
ceiling, wall and floor, and its length is just 40 feet.
 IRCLING THE
SQUARES
Answer 140. Dudeney says, “The squares that are diametrically opposite have a
common difference. For example, the difference between the square of 14 and the
square of 2, in the diagram, is 192; and the difference between the square of 16 andthe
square of 8 is also 192. This must be so in every case. Then it should be remembered
that the difference between squares of two consecutive numbers is always twice
the smaller number plus 1, and that the difference between the squares of any two.
numbers can always be expressed as the difference of the numbers multiplied by
their sum. Thus the square of 5 (25) less the square of 4 (16) equals (2 x 4) + 1, or 9;
also, the square of 7 (49) less the square of 3 (9) equals (7 + 3) x (7 - 3), or 40. Now,
the number 192, referred to above, may be divided into five different pairs of even
factors: 2 x 96, 4 x 48, 6 x 32,8 x 24, and 12 x 16, and these divided by 2 give us, 1
x 48, 2 x 24,3 x 16,4 x 12, and 6 x 8. The difference and sum respectively of each
of these pairs in turn produce 47, 49; 22, 26; 13, 19; 8, 16; and 2, 14. These are the
required numbers, four of which are already placed. The six numbers that have to
be added may be placed in just six different ways, one of which is as follows, reading
round the circle clockwise: 16, 2, 49, 22, 19, 8, 14, 47, 26, 13.”

HARLCY ANY
MISS LOFTY
finswer 141. “Mr. Lightop,’ replied the offended maiden, “I presume you claim
that there is a man in both, but opinions might differ on that subject.’
; >, ai e re eas As oe, ey sane ches

Answer
GE
142.teeThe ship
:
is; the Ark,
eight
and POSE»
the note’soe author
Rigs,
Noah.
yee EN

Jiosaent143, Thenare 6*6*6 A ferent sre outcomes oa

aeoe giving 2
216 4
possibilities. Die 1 wins with a !/s chance. Ifit loses, die 2 wins with a °/s* °/6 chance.
If that loses too, die.3 wins with a */s* °/s * '/s chance. Multiply each of those out,
putting them in terms of fractions of 216, and the total chance of a win isSet
Pie + SArs, or /rs. The total chance ofaloss, therefore, is%/y6, There isa bonus _
to your effective chance given by the multiplying win, however. There’sa Ye chance
of getting all 3, so.one of your 91 wins is worth 3, not 1. Also, for 2 dice,}
you have .
three different ways of realising the chance 1/s* 1/6* 5/s, because the losing die can
come first, second or third. So that’s another 15 chances out of your 91 that Pg
be worth 2, not 1. So 91 + 15 + 2 is 108, and your chance of winning is '"*/33, or
0.46. Don't be fooled by 108 being half of 216 — those extra 17 we effectively baled
to counterbalance multiple wins add to the216 total possibles too, because they are §
value weightings for certain results, not honut' possibilities. .
 HE ST. PATRICK'S |
DAY PARADE
(inswer 144. The lowest common multiple of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9and 10 is 2,520,
taking one from that would give you the lowest number that will leave1space after
being divided by each of them. But 2,519 is divisible by 11, and we know from the
question that the marchers are not. (2 * 2,520)-1 is not divisible by 11 however, so
the number on the march is 5,039. ae :

HE BOAR! NG 2, : ey
HOdSS-PIE (Pita
Answer 145.
 OMeSTTOC Ie Soe
COMPLIGATIONS —
answer 146. Mrs. Jones is Mr. Smith’s daughter, and her mother’s sister was Mr.
Brown's wife, so there are only four people involved in the ne thing. My change
at the end of the month isDia or $2 oy

He CONVENT
inswer 147. Before the soldiers came, there were36 nuns, with 24 on the top floor
and 12 on the bottom. The four corner rooms on each floor held 1 nun, whilst the four
central rooms held 5 on the top floor and 2 on the bottom. Afterwards, there were 27
nuns left, 18 on the top and 9 on the bottom. On the bottom floor, each room held 1
nun apart from one of the central rooms, which held 2. On the top floor, the central
rooms held 1 nun and the corner rooms held three, with two exceptions. On one side
of the building adjacent to the side on which two nuns shared a room on the bottom
floor, the central room of the top floor had two nuns. Additionally, the corner room _
touching the two sides of the building with just 1 nun in each central chamber had —
four nuns on the top floor. That way, the nuns managed to keep 11 on each side, with
no empty rooms and twice as many on the top floor as on the bottom.

L® BEACON
TOWERS
“Answer 148. The tower is diameter D 23.875 feet across, so its circumference
(pi*D) is 75 feet. The stairs wind round four times, so if they all collapsed flat, they
would represent 300 feet of staircase. The supports are 1 foot apart. Although that ~
1' is effectively sloping upwards, so is the ground they are on — so there isi 1 step per
foot, or 300 steps.
 ASdSCY'S COW

“Answer 149. The train travels two bridge lengths minus a foot whilst the cow runs
half a bridge length less five feet. If the cow had taken the other direction, the train
would have travelled three bridge lengths minus three inches whilst the cow ran
half a bridge length plus 4 feet 9 inches. Adding the two together, we know the cow
could run a whole bridge length less 3" whilst the train travels five bridge lengths
minus 15" — 5 times the speed of the cow. The train’s distance of two bridge lengths _
minus a foot would therefore be equal to 5 times the cow’s distance if the cow was —
going at the same speed as the train, or 2.5 bridge lengths minus 25 feet. If 2B-1 =
2.5B - 25, then 0.5B = 25 - 1, so the bridge is 48 feet long. :

OT CROSS.
BUNS
(inswer 150. Loyd states that there can only be three boys and three girls, each
receiving one two-a-penny and two three-a-penny buns. However, it should be fairly
obvious that there could also be 14 children, each getting one half-penny bun each.
Answer 151. “Thetextsled : The:wo is this.Let us suppose oo Charles is one
third richer than Ellen. Thanhow much poorer is Ellen than Charles?” The answer
is that effectively Ellen has 100% toCharles’ 133%, or 75% to ‘his 100% and i is.
therefore one quarter poorer,

He FIGHT ak a

answer 2edt “acighextra devil fishmakes heegroup oie echheonie :

each fishjjoining a group of x reduces the time taken by 1/x. So the fifth fish will ie <
reduce the time by 1/4, from 180 seconds to 135 seconds, and so on. With thisin
mind, initially the devil fish will tackle the king fish 3 to 1, with the 13th fish aiding
one group to a kill in 180 seconds whilst the others stalemate. The best strategy at —
‘this point, rather than all the now-free fish attacking one king fish, is for the fish to .
split up again, so that there are two king fish being worn down by 4 enemies, and. —
one attacked by five. The five will kill their enemy in 135 seconds, during which time
four will reduce a king fish to 25% health. Once the five are free, they again split up, —
tackling the king fish 7 and 6. Seven fish will kill an enemy in 90 seconds, but they
only have 25% of that to go, so they take 22.5 seconds for their kill. In the meantime,
the six, who would killin 108 seconds, have done 20% further damage, give or take, —
to the last fish. That puts the survivor on just under 5% health, with all 13 attacking :
it. 13 fish will kill an enemy in 48.5 seconds, and therefore will do 5% damage in
about 2.5 seconds. So the total time for the devil fish to win is 180 hh 22. 5K ‘ee
2.5 seconds, or 340 seconds. If the fish had taken the option of ganging up as much aoe
as possible on one enemy each time, they would have sequaey 180+ A +634+485
= 381.5 seconds. ; Poe :
 PUZZLE
(Answer 155. There are two constraints to solving this puzzle. One isBoMiously
that you want each shot to be as long as possible, to minimise the number of shots.
The other is that you have to be able to reach all of the holes. If you don’t allow
for doubling back, then the best answer is 7Syds and 100yds, the highest numbers
which together can reach all the options. They'll let you do the course in 31 shots.
However, doubling back allows you to get some extra distance at the price of some
backtracking. By making the shots 25yds different, you gain a 50yd spread for your
direct shots. Try this with shots of 100yds and 125yds, and you can do the round in
28 shots. Loyd suggests that his readers have said that shots of 125yds and 150yds
will let you do the round in 26, but actually that works out as iyshots. h

UZZIoING
SCALES
finswer 154. Puzzling Sealgs. From (a) we know 1 top + 3 cubes= 12 marbles.
From (b), we see 1 top= 1 cube + 8 marbles. If we add 3 cubes to each side of (b),
we get 1 top + 3 cubes=8 marbles + 4 cubes. The first half of this matches the first
half of (a), so 8 marbles + 4 cubes = 12 marbles also, or 1 cube= 1 marble. From (b)
then, 1 top = 9 marbles, which is what we need to balance (c).
 ROBLEM
#:

finswer 155. It may occur to you that for a man to have a widow, ben
way
Heteh

must We dead,
and thereforemost definitely ineligible for marriage. However, that’s not strictly true.
The man may have married one woman, separated from her one way or another, and ’
then re-married his first wife’s sister. Then upon his death, his first marriage would —
have been to his widow’s sister — and, obviously, ery) icgat

BMS: 6

{inswer 156, There are 12 sections, and Lveal links on the bads of sections, so it
might seem that the best answer is to use those 12 to join all the links together, for
a total cost of $1. 80. However, there are two small sections of chain. with six small .
and four large links between them. Ifyou open up those ten links, then you have ten
pieces of chain left to close and ten open links to use. Four linksat $0.20 and sixat _
$0.15 come to $1.70.
 MC BOXER
PUZZLE
“Answer 157. Ifp1 plays M-N, then p2 gets four boxes immediately and plays G-H.
pl can then take D-H or not, but either way can’t avoid giving p2 a win. Opening
L-P is the same, except p2’s first run is 3 boxes. If p1 plays D-H or H-L, p2 will play
the other, forcing p1 into giving p2 a 9-box run. The only move p1 can make is to
play G-H. Then p2’s best play is H-L, giving p1 a 4-box cascade, au there is vay 3
after that for p1 to do that will not give p2 a 5-box cascade.

Te PATROL MAN ro
PUZZse.S
Answer 158. One possible solution is as follows:
Answer 159. $3 on A getsts$10
iba and $5onB gets $11back$0$33 Uk $50
onee and $27 on C would evaaue youa win of = 10 -for an outlayof$1 10."
 ATCH QUIT
PUZZLE
Answer 161. Found 41? If not, you might like to keep on. Anyhow, according to
Loyd, there are 15 more girls’ names to be found— Jule, Lena, Dinah, Edna, Maud,
Jennie, Minnie, Anna, Carry, Mary, Jane, Mae, Judy, Hannah and Eva. You can
definitely be forgiven for not spotting “Jule” and “Carry” though! You could also
have Amie, Ani, Andi, Nina, Hanne, Cyndi, Candi, Cyn, Ina, Mai, Macy, Mandi,
Ena, Deanna, Diane, Diana, Raine, Rani, Randi, Uma, Jenni,denny, Janie, Jean,”
Leni, and Leann nowadays. Nancy makes 42. i a

RIMITIVE
RAMLROADING —
PROBLEM
Answer 162. Loyd’s answer is as follows. Assume that the engine approaching from
the right, R, has three carriages rl-r3, and the engine approaching from the left, L,
has four carriages 11-14. R pushes back far to the right, leaves r1-3, and moves onto
the siding. L pulls 11-4 out to the right. R backs up, picks 14-1, and takes them to the
left. L goes onto the siding. R backs up, joins !1 with rl, and pulls all seven to the left.
R’s driver now makes himself a cup of tea and settles down. L backs onto the track
and the other carriages, and pulls r3, 2, rl and I1 to the right. It reverses, and puts
11 on the siding, then backs the others to 12, with R still, on the left. L then backs
on to II, pulls it forward to the track, then reverses it back towards the left. Now in
order we have L, lI, 3, r2, rl, 12, 13, 14, R. L pulls five cars to the right, and backs
12 onto the switch, pulls forward, backs the remaining 5 to the group on the right,
pulls forward with 11, backs up to collect 12, pulls 11-2 right, and reverses them left
onto the group, now L, 11, 12, 13, r2, rl, 13, 14, R. Then by repeating the manoeuvre
by pulling six carriages and then seven, L can collect 11-4 behind it in original order.
R, in turn, is left at the head of rl-r3, and the two trains can go on their way.
 He ROGUE'S”
suse te
LeTTER
aties

Answer 163. The cities, the names spread out between words, are Cleveland,
Baltimore, Raleigh, Dallas, Omaha, Macon, Utica, Winona, Norwalk, Andover,
Derby, York, Thebes, Reading, Rome, Early, Dayton, Lowell and Ellsworth.

eat &

Answer 164. Most ofthe numbers are Fallot of 3, which willnot Serabin to-
get you to 50. Only two are not, 25and 19. aeeceact ee give yon 44, and ve S :
-makes 50.

GOOD BEES
Answer 165. The \se resolutions are “Be welvast in nothing”, “Be on hand”, “Be
wise’, “Be independent” (B in D, pendant), “Be benign’, “Be on time”, “Be honest”
and “Be underhand in nothing”. Ss
 EARY Wille
AND TIRED TIM
Answer 166. Loyd points out that at the first meeting, Willie has travelled 10
miles, and between them the two men have walked the entire distance between the _
two towns. By continuing on to the other town and back to meet again, the men
must then have walked the distance three times, and by the same ratio, Willie has
walked 30 miles. They meet again 12 miles from Pleasantville. So we know Willie
has walked 10 miles from Joytown for certain outwards, 12 miles from Pleasantville _
back, and 30 in total. 30 miles -10 -12 leaves 8 miles, and all the miles since leaving
Pleasantville are already known, so the 8 must have come after leaving the 10-mile
Joytown marker. Therefore the distance is 18 miles.

DeRRYS
°O:) PARADOX
€inswer 167. The answer lies in the assumption that the original criteria do
actually define an integer in the first place. ‘Define’ is a vague term, and the phrase
“the smallest positive integer not definable in under 11 words” is itself imprecise,
ambiguous, and therefore mathematically meaningless.
 eter

Ar. SialN
Atel nS ISTGRy:

te HORSE
PARADOX
(Answer 169. The argument assumes that the Ty @youre breaking your bakes
into will always share the same single colour. That's true if you have groups which
overlap each other, but when there are just two horses, divisible into two sets of one,
the two subsets have no common horse. They are still sets of one colour of horse —
they’re just not the same colour, Without that foundation, you cannot say anything
meaningful about any group of horses — except, a that He ll probably all
like apples.
 ASHING DAY
Answer 170. The answer is a towel.

ROPE AROUND
WS EARTH |
is

(nswer 171. The counter-intuitive fact is that it makes no difference if the rope is
around the Earth, a beachball, or the gassy outer shell of Jupiter. If you add 10m to
the rope, you raise it by 10/2pi, or 1.59m. In other words, just 10m would be enough
to raise the equator rope from ground level to chest-high all around the Earth.
 emotes se
CAT.
inswer N72, Ch. x ‘dolised bilCaras an itnseen Se how ‘perverse,
quantum mechanics was getting. To his and Einstein's horror, it turned out that his .
Vag conclusion, at‘thatae to quantum tppchianicts the catwould be both

editve into one or the other — turns out to be anMbblultle accurate ‘WusteatiOn e
_ of way the universe works, as best we can tell. There are some different ‘possible q
interpretations —- maybe the box contains an infinite number of parallel dimensions,
each containing one or the other possibility of the cat's state, for example — but the
_ principle holds. Until a
« processisobserved, itis in all possible'sstates simultang vee
_ The Schrédinger’s Car: principle has already been used to create communication _
» streams that show, by their perry
r ‘if they have been observed, or not.Ye liveina i
strange: universe. \ Gan :
we

‘Answer 175. Aeetally, the Aavuilies in the Hace ae ote ceeorb has»
to be total. There is plenty of philosophical debate over the detailed implications of
Hempel’s Raven Paradox, but the bottom line is that if you see a green thing and it is
not a raven, then that is at least a little¢
extra evidence that there is no coloured thing©
that is a raven, and that therefore all ravens are black. gs proof isn’t absolute,by a
long way, but it is proof. é A on ae
 WOGa)

(Inswer 174. The trains are moving at 50km/h and are 100 km apart, so they will crash
in an hour, The flyis moving at 75 km/h, so it will travel 75km. Von Neumann however
worked out how far it would travel to the first train, then how far back to the second,
then back to the third, etc, summing up the series = allin his head, in an instant.

He ae
HANGING
“Answer 175. The error is in assuming that Friday, once ruled out, has to stay ruled
out. The prisoner is right that Friday would leave no room for doubt, and thus no <2.
surprise. But on previous days, there is still room for doubt. On Wednesday, the
execution could still easily happen on Thursday, and so when it does happen on &
bas Wednesday, it is a surprise. In fact, if the prisoner believes his own logic, it will always oH, |
' be a surprise, negating his argument entirely-which really boils down to “I’m going
to be hanged some time next week, which isn’t surprising.”

HE SULTANS
DOWRY
Answer 176. "The bese approach is to reject daughters until a certain amount have
Y been passed over, and then select the next daughter who's dowry is higher than that
of the ones who have gone before. It turns out that the threshold point for this is at
daughter number (n/e), where n is the total number of daughters, and e is Eulet’s
Number, the mathematical constant 2.718... In this instance, the commoner should
reject 37 daughters, which ~ coincidentally — leaves him witha 37% chance that the
next girl who beats the ones before will be the one with the highest dowry.
 fee)
CRIT
PARAUOK
Answer (17. Fermi’s paradox relies on a large set of assumptions, some or all of
which might be false: (a) That we will recognise aliens or their activities when we see
them. (b) That access to the Earth and its surrounding environment is unrestricted
— we may be a ‘zoo; in effect. (c) That aliens are not already here unofhcially, or
that governments would tell us if evidence was discovered. (d) That the Earth is
sufficiently interesting to merit even the slightest alien attention. (e) That interested
aliens could and would locate us in the vast gulfs of space if they actually wanted to
in the first place. (f) That we have been looking for long enough — they may have
come 500 years ago, for example. (g) That an alien civilisation is going to want to
: expand and explore inthe first place..In other words, the unknowns are just too great.
_ Fermi’s paradox iisabase foriconjectore: but too!narrow to provide any evidence for
thetnon-existence of« alienlife ee

Ww. ichdient comitttnication,

ituation is
ne multiple times, sO.
° OOK STAC
Answer M9. The number of books required to extend the stack a further book-
length increases rapidly. For two books-worth of length, you'll need 31 books in the
stack — and it rakes 227 fora 3 book-length protrusion.

LUO ENVELOPE
PROBLEM
Answer 180. The flaw here is in assuming that you can directly compare ida situation .
where you lose half with the situation where you double. That’s just not true. The —
two cases are different — the loss case assumes you have the higher envelope, and the
win case assumes the lower. That means that they are not directly comparable. Ifyo
take the lowest sum as a constant when calculating your probabilities, you find that
in either case, the risk calculation gives you an average of one and ahalf timesthe
lower sum.
 co
OSTAGE STAITIP
PROBLEM)
Answer (8. The smallest unavailable number is 23. 1+4+7+10 is 22, and with no
stamp just 1 higher than its nearest neighbour, there is no way to add another single
digit to the sum. Because these stamps escalate in steps of 3, every earlier sum is
reachable with the help of the ‘1’ stamp.
 Foss 0

Ue S
PARBUOn
Answer (49. There isn’t really any way out of this one. Any reasonably meaningful
language is going to allow for flat contradiction. You can argue that the accuracy or
inaccuracy of the statement is impossible to define, but that’s really just shifting the
paradox to the side rather than actually solving it.

oF
Answer 149. Robert loves Crosswords and lives in Strathclyde, where heis atailo
Bill loves Sudoku and lives in Essex, where he is a builder. John loves Numberlir
and lives in Surrey, where he is a policeman. Ken loves Wordsearch and lives.
a Yorkshire, where he is a farmer. Martin loves Suiri and lives in Norfolk, where | ie
-adriver.
 (0
HE BIR THUR
PARAUOR
Answer (45. Because any two people can share a birthday, the number of chances
for a link increases rapidly as the group size expands. A group of just 23 people has
a 50.7% chance of having two members with a common birthday. This rises to 99%
chance at 57 people. For absolute certainty, you still need 366 people (or 367 if you
allow Feb 29th birthdays).
 Gnmnmny
eel ie

Answer (G7. Gilbac, Maki Kaji, Howie Garns,

Art Wynne, Dudeney, Sam Loyd, Ahmes, Euclid, Zeno,
Fibonacci, Leclerc, Silverman, Zu Shi Jie, Liu Hui, >

PK]
z" 4

Hinton, Alcuin, Damoeta, Tartaglia,

Mahaveerachaya, Archimedes, Abu Kamil, Diophantus,
Euler, Epimenides, Polya, Russell, Carroll, Hilbert, Lua | 5)
VALIS, Fermi, Gardner, Singmaster, Frobenius,
Bezzel, Von Neumann, Bhaskara, Flood, Dresher. sagan
NOX
NES 6

|]
NENG

HE Morty
HALL PROBL
Answer 146. The common assumption is that as Monty has revealed a goat, a
the other two doors can hold either a goat or the car, so there isno advantageto
switching. This is flat-out wrong. The truth is that Monty, by revealing one door, is
_ effectively combining the other two doors into one option. If the carisbehindB, he
reveals C; if it is behind C, he reveals B. In either case, the car is behind the hidden
door — that’s two chances. The car being behind your door is just one chance, so
if you switch, you have a % chance of getting the car. This is clearer if you imagine
there are 101 doors, you pick one, and then Monty opens 99 he knows are duds
to leave 1 other option. What’s the chance you got the car right first time, versus
the chance Monty has deliberately left the car hidden? The only time when it’s not
advantageous to switch is when Monty has no idea where the car is, and revealed
the goat through sheer luck. Incidentally, after Selvin posed the problem, Monty
wrote him a humorous letter in which he pointed out that in the real TV show, no
switching is ever possible.
 TL-WAL-IOE
Answer #@9. There is in fact no way to know. Meta Tic-Tac-Toe is considerably
more complex than the sum of its parts, and it is impossible to predict easily because
of the varied strategic considerations. Give it a try, you may well be surprised.
 Answer i9i

Prewes (92,
 aye |
ASHIWORARERO
Answer (93.

vu t‘mul
oeae34. ni50 cannot be
iefrom6and4Thesixa hunbets
 fsa)

HE SIEVE OF
LONWNWAir
Answer QS. There’s no quick shortcut to this; you need to calculate each step,
and it takes 19 steps in total. (1) 2 * 15/2=15. (2) 15 * 55/1=825. (3) 825 * 29/33
=(725. (4) 7252°77/29 = 1925. (5) 1925 * 13/11 =12275. (6) 2275 "17/91 = 425,
(7) 425 * 78/85 = 390. (8) 390 * 11/13 = 330. (9) 330 * 29/33 = 290. (10) 290 *
77/23 = 770. (11) 770 * 13/11 =910. (12) 910* 17/91 = 170. (13) 170" V8s85 =
156. (14) 156* 11/13 = 132. (15) 132 * 29/33 = 116. (16) 116 * 77/29 = 308. (17)
308 * 13/11 = 364. (18) 364 * 17/91 = 68. (19) 68 * 1/17 = 4.4 = 22, and 2 is your
prime. Phew.

Answer (96.
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AbIL SOUARE
MATAR
Answer (99. If you've managed it, congratulations; if not, the trick lies in taking the
time to work out your template square. There isn’t any quick way to do it, I’m afraid
— but if it’s any consolation, it’s a lot faster than trying to work out a 6-order square
without it. This method, which is the first discovered to date, is based on Willem
Barink’s 2006 physical puzzle game, Medjig. There are 1.8x10” (that’s 18 billion
billion) 6-order squares, so giving one possible example seems redundant!
 se
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Picture Credits — Background textures: Olena Pantiukh/©is photo.com

; _ (pages 104-185 and 256-291), Evgeny Kukl (pages 186-_
209 and 292-303)
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making this book:a fascinating and ri |
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oe | “The Riddle of theSphinx ((Egypt, 800BC), Sun Tzu’s Classic Problem (Gone
2,AOOAD),Sey
The Bridges of Kénigsburg (Prussia, 1776), The Monty Hall Hk (USA,1975).it <
; Fillomino (Japan, 2001)? :

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ISBN-13: 978-1-86200-7

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