PAST SOLUTIONS TO THE DAILY BRAIN TEASER BY E-MAIL CLUB

The canvas must be 10 in. in width and 20 in. in height; the picture itself 6 in. wide and 12 in. high. The margin will then be as required.

Margaret Marshall went to the bank and to the grocery store, Doris Price went to the bank and to the hardware store, Ethel Torrey went to the butcher shop and the grocery store, and so did Lucille Winters.

Mitchell teaches French and history, Morgan teaches biology and English, and Myers teaches economics and mathematics.

Since there are no childless couples every family must have at least one girl, either as an only child or as the sister (required by the second fact) of such boys as there may be. Thus there must be at least as many girls as families. But then, since there are more boys than girls, the total number of children must necessarily be more than twice the number of families, that is, more than the total number of adults since there are just two adults per family. This contradicts the first fact of the report and constitutes the inconsistency for which the census taker was reprimanded.

3121.................................1....................624 kept by #1
2496.................................1....................499 kept by #2
1996.................................1....................399 kept by #3
1596.................................1....................319 kept by #4
1276.................................1....................257 kept by #5
1020.................................1.....240 divided among all

15621...............................1...................3124 kept by #1
12496...............................1...................2499 kept by #2
9996.................................1...................1999 kept by #3
7996.................................1...................1599 kept by #4
6396.................................1...................1279 kept by #5
5116.................................1....1023 divided among all

Yes. He took as much time for the second half of his trip as the whole trip would have taken on foot. So no matter how fast the train was, he lost exactlt as much time as he spent on the train. He would have saved 1/30 of the time taken by walking all the way.

There is exactly as much water in the wine pitcher as there is wine in the water pitcher. Regardless of the proportions of wine and water which have been transferred, if both pitchers originally held equal volumes of unadulterated liquids and both are eventually left the equal volumes of mixtures, then equal amounts of wine and water must have been transferred.
This old brainteaser also forms the basis of a perplexing card trick: The performer and the spectator are seated opposite each other at a table. The performer turns 20 cards face-up from a pack of 52 cards. The spectator is asked to shuffle the pack so that the reversed cards are randomly distributed, then to hold the pack out of sight beneath the table and to count off 20 cards from the top. These 20 cards are passed, under the table, to the performer.

Having taken the 20 cards, the performer continues to hold them beneath the table, and tells the spectator: "Neither of us knows how many reversed cards there are in this pack of 20. However it is likely that there are fewer reversed cards in the pack of 20 than there are in the pack of 32 which you are holding. Without looking at my cards, I am going to turn some more face-down cards face-up in an attempt to equalize the number of reversed cards in my packet with the number in yours."

The performer then fiddles with his packet of cards under the table, making out that he can feel the difference between fronts and backs. After a few moments, he brings them into view and spreads them on the table. When the face-up cards are counted, it turns out that their number is exactly the same as the number of face-up cards in the spectator's packet of 32. What he's done, of course, is just turn his entire stack of 20 cards over.

He makes eight cigarettes and smokes them, leaving eight ends from which he makes two more cigarettes, a total of ten.

There are 215 different dates in this century complying with the conditions, if we include such cases as 25/4/00. The most fruitful year was 1924, when we get the seven cases: 24/1/24, 12/2/24, 2/12/24, 8/3/24, 3/8/24, 6/4/24, 4/6/24. One has only to seek the years containing as many factors as possible.

There are two solutions with numbers less than ten: 3 and 5, and 7 and 8.
The general solution to this problem is as follows:
Calling the numbers a and b, we have:

a² + b² + ab= p=/a-mb/²=a²-2amb+b²m². :b+a=-2am+bm²,
:b=a(2m+1)/m²-1
in which m may be any whole number greater than 1, and a is chosen tointhebrationaL The general values are a = m² - 1 and b = 2m + 1.

Twice 4 added to 20 is 28. Four of these (a seventh part) were killed, and these were those that remained, for the others flew away.

The place is Venus, where a day is longer than a year. Venus takes 225 Earth days to go around the sun but it takes 243 Earth days too rotate on its axis. In any event, it is unlikely that many people would like to go there for either period; the avg. temp is around 885°F, and their are thick clouds of sulphuric acid. If you know of a better solution please post in the FORUM!

Sally was short by 6.75 inches. She needed 180 inches, but the owner gave her only 165 plus 5 percent of that.

There are 5,040 ways of arranging the childern, and 720 different ways of placing a girl at each end. Therefore, the chances are 720 in 5,040, or 1 in 7. Or, which is the same thing, the chances are 1 in 6 in favor, or 6 in 1 against there being a girl at both ends.

The farmer's seventeen horses were to be divided in the proportions 1/2, 1/3, 1/9. It was not stated that the sons were to receive those fractions of seventeen. The proportions are thus 9/18, 6/18, and 2/18, so if the sons receive respectively 9, 6, and 2 horses each, the terms of the legacy will be exactly carried out. Therefore, the rediculous old method described does happen to give a correct solution.

Hilda's blunder amounted to multiplying by 49, instead of by 409. Divide the error by the difference (328,320 by 360) and you will get the required number-912.

On the odd side of the street the house must have been No.239, and there were 169 houses on that side. On the even side of the street the house must have been No.408, and there were 288 houses.

Brown's number must have been 84, and there were 119 houses. The numbers from 1 to 84 sum to 3,570 and those from 1 to 119 to 7,140, which is just double, as stated.

Arthur could do the work in 14 34/49 days
Benjamin in 17 23/41 days
Charles in 23 7/31 days

It depends on the reason for the scales' imbalance. If the pans are of unequal weights, the grocer's solution will work; but if the arms of the scale are of unequal lengths, it will not, and the grocer will lose. This can be shown algebraically as follows:
Let a and b be the unequal lengths of the arms of the scale, x the fixed weight, and y and z the amounts of, say, sugar weighed out. Then ax = by and bx = az, so the weight of sugar dispensed is:

{a/b +b/a}
which is greater than 2x. For
a/b + b/a>2;a(2)-2ab+b(2)>0;and(a-b)(2)>0

are equivalent statements when a and b are distinct positive quantities.
It can also be explained in terms of physics. While adding a compensating weight to a light pan will bring the scales permanently into balance, adding a compensating weight to the side with a short arm will only put the scales into momentary balance. The combined effect of a long arm and weight added to that side (in the form of goods, for instance) will be to increase the imbalance progressively, so that ever more compensation is needed.

x= value of the coat. After seven months the butler is entitled to 7x/12 + 700/12. However, he receives only $20, therefore, 5x/12 must compensate for the difference between $700/12 and $240/12 ($20) therefore,
5x = 460
and x = $92

Let x be the length of the bolt. Then x/3 + x/4 + 8 = x. This reduces to:

4x+3x+96=12x, or5x=96

x=19.2 yards.

As in fact you are starting with two lentils on the second day, you save one day, therefore the answer is 29 days.

The second, because x/30 + x/40
is greater than 2x/35
Proof: x/30 + x/40 = 7x/120 or 245x/4200
2x/35 = 240x/4200

Because he is a security guard, that works at night. If he was sleeping and dreaming, means that he was incompetent and the company was unsafe.

Ten problems.
Let x be the number of correct solutions, and y be the number of incorrect solutions.

Then: x+y = 26
and 8x-5y = 0
From first equation y = (26- x)
8x-5(26-x)= 0
or 8x= 130-5x
x= 10

The oldest boy asked Daddy for another dollar, making $18. He took $9.00, gave the middle brother $6.00, and gave the baby $2.00. Then he returned the extra dollar to Daddy.

My friend is too short to reach the buttonin the elevator for the fifteenth floor--he can reach only as high as ten. On the way down, the first--floor button is easy for him to reach.

1 ton
250 centimeters
3 raised to the 5th power
zero degrees Centigrade
inches in a kilometer
-40 degrees Centigrade and -40 degrees Fahrenheit are equally cold.

a. brag, garb
b. revel, lever
c. paws, swap
d. laud, dual
e. mood, doom
f. warts, straw
g. step, pets
h. debut, tubed
i. snip, pins
j. evil, live

On average half the women will bear a girl first, and half will bear a boy, so on first births, the numbers of boys and girls will be equal. The women who bore a girl will then have no more children, while the half who bore a boy will continue to bear, having as second children, half boys and half girls, so that the balance of boys and girls is preserved. Among the third children to be born within families, there will also be a balance of boys and girls, and so on. The fact is that the number of families which consist of only one girl, which amounts to no less than one half of all families, will exactly balance the much smaller number of families containing several boys followed by a girl. Indeed, this amounts to no more than the fact that
1/2 = 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 +....
This solution assumes that the ratio of births of boys to girls is indeed one to one; the ratio actually favours boys very slightly, but this ratio in itself will never produce the surplus that the King requires, and his ingenious scheme will be of no help at all.

a. Nevada b. Maine c. Maryland d. Washington e. Minne-sota f. Rhode Island g. Indiana h. Pennsylvania i. Rhode Island j. South Carolina

The only other four digit number complying with the conditions is 9801.
98 plus 0l is 99, and 99 squared is 9801.

The bicycle moves backwards. However, the pedal moves forwards, relative to the bicycle, so that the pedals as a pair are rotating, as would be expected, in the opposite direction to that required to move the cycle forwards.

This is an example of the 'pigeon-hole' principle. Consider one million boxes, numbered consecutively from 0, for the completely bald, to 999,999 for those people (who might just exist according to the information given) who have that many hairs on their head.
Place one slip for each person in the United Kingdom into the box corresponding to his or her number of hairs. Then at least one box must contain fifty slips of paper, corresponding to at least fifty people with that same number of hairs on their head.

Very simple, my dear Watson," the Sultan chuckled. 'As a matter of fact I expected this good news exactly on that day. My people, as I suggested before, may be too lazy to organize the shadowing of their wives for the purpose of establishing their faithfulness or unfaithfulness, but they have certainly shown themselves intelligent enough to resolve the case by purely logical analysis."
"I do not understand you, Great Sultan," said the vizier.
"Well, assume that there were not fourty unfaithful wives, but only one. In this case, everybody with the exception of her husband knew the fact. Her husband, however, believing in the faithfulness of his wife, and knowing no other case of unfaithfulness (about which he would undoubtedly have heard) was under the impression that all wives in the city, including his own, were faithful. If he read the proclamation which stated that there are unfaithful wives in the city, he would realize it could mean only his own wife. Thus he would kill her the very first night. Do you follow me?"
"I do," said the vizier.
'"Now let us assume," continued the Sultan, "that there were two deceived husbands; let us call them Abdula and Hadibaba. Abdula knew all the time that Hadjibaba's wife was deceiving him, and Hadjibaba knew the same about Abdula's wife. But each thought his own wife was faithful.
"On the day that the proclamation was published, Abdula said to himself, 'Aha, tonight Hadjibaba will kill his wife.' On the other hand, Hadjibaba thought the same about Abdula. However, the fact that next morning both wives were still alive proved to both Abdula and Hadjibaba that they were wrong in believing in the faithfulness of their wives. Thus during the second night two daggers would have found their target, and two women would have been dead. "I follow you so far," said the vizier, "but how about the case of three or more unfaithful wives?"
"Well, from now on we have what is called mathematical induc-tion. I have just proved to you that, if there were only two unfaithful wives in the city, the husbands would have killed them on the second night, by force of purely logical deduction. Now suppose that there were three wives, Abdula's, Hadjibaba's, and Faruk's, who were unfaithful. Faruk knows, of course, that Abdula's and Hadlibaba's wives are deceiving them, and so he expects that these two characters will murder their wives on the second night. But they don't. Why? Of course because his, Faruk's, wife is unfaithful, too! And so in goes the dagger, or the three daggers, as a matter of fact."
"O Great Sultan," exclaimed the vizier, "you have certainly opened my eyes on that problem. Of course, if there were four unfaithful wives, each of the four wronged husbands would reduce the case to that of three and not kill his wife until the fourth day. And so on, and so on, up to forty wives."
"I am glad," said the Sultan, "that you finally understand the situation. It is nice to have a vizier whose intelligence is so much inferior to that of the average citizen. But what if I tell you that the reported number of unfaithful wives was actually forty-one?"

Achilles would reach the tortoise at 1,111 1/9 meters. If the race track is shorter than this, the tortoise would win. If it were exactly this size, it would be a tie. Otherwise Achilles will pass the tortoise.

The boy picked a pebble out of the hat and, before they had a chance to examine it, dropped it, apparently accidentally, where it was lost among the pebbles on the ground. He then pointed out to the king that the color of the dropped pebble could be ascertained by checking the color of the one remaining in the hat.

5 1/3 (5 minutes 20 seconds)
Speed downstream is 1/2 km. per minute. Return speed is 1/4 kilometer per minute. Therefore the current makes 1/8 of a kilometer difference per minute.
Consequently, the boat speed is 3/8 of a kilometer per minute, which translates into 5 1/3 minutes for the 2 kilometers in still water.

Take one bill from the envelope marked $15 (which is a wrong marking). Say it would be a $5 bill. Now you know the other left in the envelope is also a $5 bill. You also know now that the envelope labelled $20, since it is labelled wrong, cannot contain $20. You already know which is the correct $10 envelope, hence the one labelled $20 has to contain $15. The remaining envelope has to be the one with $20 in it. Use the same procedure if you should pick the one with the two $10 bills in it.

If there are m men, then clearly 1-m is a solution, albeit a negative one, since, if you take one away (the one for the monkey), and then divide the remainder by m, it will mean that each man gets - 1. If one man then takes his portion and puts the rest back, then there will be 1 -m again. And the process can be repeated.

Now, if there are m men, there will be m+ 1 share-outs, and therefore, besides 1 -m being a solution, there will also be solutions at intervals of:
1 m+m(m+l) and
1 m+2 x m(m+l) and
1 m+3 x m(m+l)

and at every multiple of m(m+1)

But clearly, the least positive solution will be 1 -m+m(m+1)

In our problem, m=6, therefore the minimum number of coconuts is:

1-6+6(7th power)=279,931 coconuts.

Consider the puzzle with statements 1-5 only, and denote '2 is true' by 2T, and so on. 2T implies 5T implies 4F (since 4T, 5T would make 4F). 4F implies two consecutive true statements, which is impossible. Therefore 2F. 2F implies 4T (since 4F would have to be true), which implies 3F and 5F. Thus iF 2F 3F 4T 5F, and the answer to this shortened puzzle would be '4 alone'. But adding the statement 6, if 6T then its removal would affect the answer, and therefore 6F. Thus since 6F, the answer cannot be 4 alone. 2T can again be ruled out making 2F. Hence again 4T so 3F and 5F. The only combination left which works and does not give the answer '4 alone' is 1T 2F 3F 4T 5F 6F.

Number 534
He asks either of the warders, 'Does the warder who is guarding the road that leads to freedom tell the truth?' If the warder he asks replies 'Yes', he goes through that warder's door. If the warder replies 'No', he walks to freedom through the other door.

Number 533
All they had to do was tilt the barrel on its bottom rim till the water was just about to pour out. If the barrel is exactly half full, the water level at the bottom of the barrel should just cover all the rim. That way half the barrel is full of water; the other half is air space. If the water arnply covers the bottom rim, the barrel is more than half full; if the bottom is not fully covered, the barrel is less than half full.

a. The fiendish spectre haunts the manor each night
b. Never trifle with strange beasts
c. Genuine antique dealers seldom deal in replicas
d. A recipe if perfect lists all the ingredients
e. A tornado can cause alarming results when it hits a town
f. In general, granite rocks are the hardest ones

OTT F F S SEN... being the initial letters of One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, etc.

The two keen sportsmen started at their fitness club, one on the cycling machine and the other on the walking ma-chine. After half an hour of indoor exercise they went for a run. The distance from A to B is 2 miles.

The buses are evenly spaced along the road in both directions. The man notices buses at the rate of 30 an hour. Because he is moving towards one "stream" of buses and away from the other, he sees more buses in one direction than the other (20 to 10), but if he were stationary he would see 15 an hour traveling each way. The buses ffierefore leave the terminal at 4-minute intervals.

If two widows had each a son, and each widow married the son of the other and had a daughter by the marriage, all the relationships will be found to result.

Colonel Cholomondely-Snaithworth-Jones was lying, and the explorers knew it. There are no wild tigers at the headwaters of the Nile, or anywhere else in Africa. Liars like the colonel come along only every four years.

The fallacy is exposed when you use the argument of the problem to prove that any two horses are of the same colour. Removing each of the horses in turn only leaves the other one horse, and the set of N - 1 horses which are all of the same colour as each other, and the same colour as the horses removed, has one member. If only it were possible to conclude that any pair of horses were the same colour, then it would indeed - and very obviously - follow that any three, four, five, etc., horses were of the same colour.

The most likely total is 13. For every way in which you could end up with a total of 14 or more, there is a way of ending up with 13: all you have to do is to throw one less, and this is certainly possible because you cannot first exceed 12 and arrive at a total of 14 or more by throwing a 1. Therefore the number of ways of reaching 13 is at least as great as the number of ways of reaching any higher total. But their are also ways to first exceed 12 and reach 13, for example by starting with 12 and throwing a 1, which do not have any matching throws for higher totals. Therefore there are more ways of getting to 13 and the probability is greatest that your total will be 13.

The poorest shot, the Baron of Rockall, has the best chance of surviving. Lord Montcrief, the one who never misses, has the second best chance. Because the baron's two opponents will aim at each other when their turns come, his best strategy is to fire into the air until one of the others is killed. He will then get the first shot at the survivor, which gives him the advantage.



a. Guyana	b. America	c. Afghanistan or Others with the same ending!
d. Jordan	e. Indonesia	f. New Zealand
g. Hungary	h. Great Britain or Mauritania	i. Philippines

1. Ashes.
2. A haircut.
3. The rifles are long enough already.
4. Lunch, dinner, and supper.
5. An unbrella.
6. Normal; your fingers should be equally spread over
two hands.
7. Six dozen dozen; it is 12 times as much as half a
dozen dozen.
8. You cannot get down from a camel. You get down from a duck.
9. They were tinned tomatoes.
10. There are more of them.

Rate your score on the following scale:

8 to 10 correct=Whiz
6 to 7 correct=Smart
3 to 5 correct=Fair
2 or less=Look at answers again take test over, score better, I would hope! LOL!

Milligan stuffed animals. The man in the garage had heard that Milligan was a famous local taxidermist and thought that he ran some kind of taxi service!

The train takes 30 seconds to travel 1km, plus 3 seconds for the complete train to pass any point, making a total of 33 seconds.

CHECKED stood out because it was the only word which could be read directly from the office stamp.

Four. The sentence contains three spelling mistakes, plus the false clam that it only contains one mistake, making a total of four mistakes.

The second question, paradoxically, cannot be answered. It contains only two spelling mistakes but clams to contain three mistakes; therefore that clam is wrong and it actually contains three mistakes--except that if it contains three mistakes then the claim that it contains three mistakes is correct, and so it only contains the two spelling mistakes, in which case.....!

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