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Amusements in Mathematics
Project Gutenberg's Amusements in Mathematics, by Henry ErnestDudeney This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-useit under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with thiseBook or online at www.gutenberg.netTitle: Amusements in MathematicsAuthor: Henry Ernest DudeneyRelease Date: September 17, 2005 [EBook #16713]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKAMUSEMENTS IN MATHEMATICS ***Produced by Stephen Schulze, Jonathan Ingram and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net[Transcribers note: Many of the puzzles in this book assume a familiaritywith the currency of Great Britain in the early 1900s. As this is likely notcommon knowledge for those outside Britain (and possibly many within,) Iam including a chart of relative values.The most common units used were:the Penny, abbreviated: d. (from the Roman penny, denarius) the Shilling,abbreviated: s. the Pound, abbreviated: £There was 12 Pennies to a Shilling and 20 Shillings to a Pound, so therewas 240 Pennies in a Pound.To further complicate things, there were many coins which were variousfractional values of Pennies, Shillings or Pounds.Farthing ¼d.Half-penny ½d.Penny 1d.Three-penny 3d.Sixpence (or tanner) 6d.Shilling (or bob) 1s.Florin or two shilling piece 2s.
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Half-crown (or half-dollar) 2s. 6d.Double-florin 4s.Crown (or dollar) 5s.Half-Sovereign 10s.Sovereign (or Pound) £1 or 20s.This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it should be adequate to solvethe puzzles in this book.Exponents are represented in this text by ^, e.g. '3 squared' is 3^2.Numbers with fractional components (other than ¼, ½ and ¾) have a +symbol separating the whole number component from the fraction. It makesthe fraction look odd, but yeilds correct solutions no matter how it isinterpreted. E.G., 4 and eleven twenty-thirds is 4+11/23, not 411/23 or4-11/23.]AMUSEMENTS IN MATHEMATICSbyHENRY ERNEST DUDENEYIn Mathematicks he was greater Than Tycho Brahe or Erra Pater: For he,by geometrick scale, Could take the size of pots of ale; Resolve, by sinesand tangents, straight, If bread or butter wanted weight; And wisely tellwhat hour o' th' day The clock does strike by algebra.BUTLER'S
Hudibras
.
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