SHAKUNTALA DEVI

mo3E
Over 300 brain teasers, riddles
and mathematical puzzles to
sharpen your calculating power
PUZZLED
ORIENT PAPERBACKS
More Puzzles to Puzzle You
Or ig inal ... Maddeni ng and. . . Irresistible!
Her e ar e over 300 tantalising puzzl es , brain- teasers
and r iddles by one of t he greatest mat hemat i cal
geniuses of t he twentieth centur y , Shak unt al a
Devi, popul ar l y k nown as t he 'human comput er '.
T he puzzl es incl ude every possible ty pe of
mat hemat i cal r ecr eation; time and di s t ance
pr obl ems , age and money r iddles, puzzl es
involving g eometr y and el ementar y algebr a, and
just plain str aight thinking . Of t en enter taining ,
but always stimul ating , t he puzzl es i ncl uded in
the book of f er hour s of f un and r el ax ation.
"Shakuntala Devi is the internationally
renowned mathematics wizard, a recent entrant
into the Guiness Book of Records, astrologer
and teacher of 'mind- dynamics'.
Indi an 4Express
"Shakuntala Devi excites the admiration of all
who have ever wanted to take a sledgehammer
to a computer. Mrs. Devi's achievement all
honour to her for it is that she has out-
thought one of the smuggest, most supercilious
computers in the land, a Univac 1108. She has a
mind that out- Univacs Univac... Her feat
performed at Southern Methodist University,
goes into the Gui nes s Book of World Records."
T he Geor g i a St at e Univer sity Sig nal , US A
By the s ame aut hor
in
Orient Paperbacks
Puzzles to Puzzl e Y ou
T he Book of Number s
Astrology for Y ou
Perfect Mur der
Figuring: T he J oy of Number s
Shakuntala Devi
ORIENT FAPERBACKS
A Di vi si on o Vi si on Books Pvt Ltd.
New Delhi Bombay
I i l 03c
PUZZLED
ISBN 81- 222- 0048- 6
1st Published 1985
1987
1989
1989
Repr inted
Repr inted
Repr inted
More Puzzles to Puzzle You
Shakunt al a Devi, 1985
Cov er design by Vision Studio
Published by
Orient Paperbacks
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Madar s a Road, Kas hmer e Gat e, Delhi- 110906
Printed in India at
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Cov er Pr inted at
Ravindr a Pr inting Press, Delhi- 110006
Mathematical Puzzles
and
Riddles
Anyone can be a mathematician. Most people will not
agree with me, I know. But I insist that any person with
average intelligence can master the science of mathematics
with proper guidance and training.
Mathematics is the mother of all sciences. The world
cannot move an inch without mathematics. Every
businessman, accountant, engineer, mechanic, farmer,
scientist, shopkeeper, even street hawker requires a
knowledge of mathematics in the day to day life.
Besides man, animals and insects also use mathematics in
their day to day existence. Snails make shells with curious
mathematical precision. Spiders produce intricacies of
engineering. Honey bees construct combs of greatest
strength consistent with the least possible amount of wax .
There are countless mathematical patterns in nature's
fabric.
God or nature, whichever one believes in, is the greatest
mathematician
-
of all. Fruits of teasle and sunflower and the
scales of cones are not arranged haphazardly. A close
ex amination would convince us that in corn and elm each
leaf is halfway around the stem from the leaves immediately
above and below it. If one should trace the point of
attachment upwards with the aid of thread freshly coated
with mucilage, it would be found that they lie on a spiral.
In plants like beech and sedge, each leaf is attached one-
third of the way around the stem from leaves immediately
above or below it. Another kind of spiral is found in twigs of
the oak, the apple and many other plants. The leaves are
two- fifths of the circumferencr apart and the curve, make
two revolutions and goes through five attachments in
passing from any leaf to the one directly over it. This would
be the fraction 2/5.
Mathematical training is essential to children if they are to
flourish effectively in the newly forming technological world
of tomorrow. No longer it is enough to train children to meet
known challenges; they must be prepared to face the
unknown because it seems certain that tomorrow won't
be much like today.' It is now time for us to rethink our
approach to maths learning.
Ex perience shows that the basic principles of learning
mathematics can be made easier and more fun for the clever
and ordinary alike through mathematical activities and
games. If mathematics can be turned into a game, it can
literally become child's play. Class ex perience indicate
clearly that mathematical puzzles and riddles encourage an
alert, open minded attitude in youngsters and help them
develop their clear thinking.
In the light of this aspect I have presented the puzzles,
riddles and games in this book. Each puzzle, riddle or game
is designed to develop some aspect of a person's inbor n
potential to think creatively.
I have tried to cover a wide range of mathematical topics
and levels of difficulty, with an aim to pull together many
different topics in mathematics. The varied kinds of levels of
problems provide both a review of previous work and an
introduction to a new topic as well as motivation to learn
new techniques needed to solve more specialized types of
problems.
The writing of this book has been a thrilling ex perience for
me and I hope my readers will share with me this
ex perience.
Shakuntala Devi
Puzzles Kiddies & Brain Teasers
i
104
A Problem of Shopping
Meena went out for s hoppi ng . She had in her
handbag appr ox i mat el y Rs. 15/- in one r upee notes
and 20 p. coins. Whe n she r et ur ned she had as many
one r upee notes as she originally had and as many 20 p.
coins as she originally had one r upee notes. She
actually came back with about one- third of what she
had star ted out with.
How much did she s pend and ex actly how much did
she hav e with her when she star ted out ?
2
A Question of Distance
It was a beautif ul s unny mor ni ng . T he air was f resh
and a mil d wi nd was blowing against my wind scr een. I
was dr iving f r om Bang al or e t o Br i ndav an Gar dens . It
t ook me 1 hour and 30 mi nut es t o compl et e the
j our ney .
Af ter l unch I r etur ned t o Bang al or e. I dr ov e f or 90
r hinutes. How do y ou ex plain it ?
3
Smallest Integer
Ca n y ou name t he smallest integer that can be
wr itten with t wo digits ?
9
1
A Puzzle Of Cultural Groups
My cl ub has five cultur al g r oups . They ar e literary,
dr amat i c, musical , danci ng and painting g r oups . T he
literary g r oup meets every other day , the dr amat i c
every thir d day , the musical every f our th day , the
danci ng every fifth day and the painting every six th
day . T he five g r oups met , f or the first time oh the New
Y ear 's day of 1975 and star ting f r om that day they met
regularly accor di ng to schedul e.
Now, can y ou tell how many times did all the five
meet on one and the s ame day in the first quar ter ? Of
cour s e the New Y ear 's day is ex cl uded.
One mor e'ques t i onwer e ther e any day s when
none of the g r oups met in the first quar ter and if so how
many wer e ther e ?
5
The Biggest Number
Ca n y ou name the biggest number that can be
wr itten with f our I s ?
6
A Problem of Regions
T her e are thirty- four lines that are tangent t o a
circle, and these lines cr eate r egions in the pl ane. Ca n
y ou tell how many of these r egions are not encl osed ?
10
1
A Problem of Age
Recentl y I at t ended a cocktail par ty . T her e was a
beautif ul y oung woman, who al so s eemed very witty
and intelligent. One of the other guests suddenl y
popped a ques t ion at her "How ol d are y ou? "For a
moment she l ooked a bit embar r as s ed and while I
s t ood ther e wonder i ng how she was going t o wriggle
out of t he situation, she f lashed a char mi ng smile and
ans wer ed, "My ag e thr ee years hence multiplied by 3
and f r om that s ubtr acted thr ee times my age thr ee
years ag o will give y ou my ex act age".
T he man who had asked her the age just wal ked
away puzzl ed. T hen she leaned over and whispered to
me "if he can calculate that one, he deserves t o k now
my ag e. "
How ol d do y ou think she was ?
8
Solve a Dilemma
Wha t is wr ong with this pr oof ?
2 = 1
a = b
a
2
= ab
a
2
- b
2
= ab - b
2
(a + b) (a - b) = b (a - b)
a + b = b
2b = b
2 = 1
11
104
Pursue the Problem
Simplif y ( - -g-) - y
as f ar as y ou can
10
A Problem of Walking
Nex t door t o me lives a ma n wi t h his s on. T hey bot h
wor k i n t he s ame f actor y . I wat ch t hem g oi ng t o wor k
t hr oug h my wi ndow. T he f ather leaves f or wor k t en
mi nut es earlier t han his son. One day I as ked him about
it and he tol d me he takes 30 mi nut es t o walk t o his
f act or y , wher eas his s on is abl e t o cov er t he dis tance in
onl y 20 minut es .
I wonder ed, if the f ather wer e t o leave t he hous e 5
mi nut es earlier t han his s on, how s oon the s on woul d
cat ch up with t he f ather .
How can y ou f ind the ans wer ?
11
Peculiar Number
Her e is a mul tipl ication:
159 x 49 = 7632
Ca n y ou see s omet hi ng pecul iar in this multi-
pl ication? Y es , all t he nine digits ar e dif f er ent.
How many other similar number s can y ou t hi nk of ?
12
104
A Problem of Handshakes
Recentl y 1 at t ended a small get- together. I count ed
the number of hands hakes t hat wer e ex chang ed.
T her e wer e 28 altogether .
Ca n y ou tell me how many g uests wer e pr es ent ?
A Problem of Cog- wheels
Her e is a cog- wheel that has eight teeth. It is coupl ed
with a cog- wheel of 24 teeth.
Ca n y ou tell how many times t he small cog- wheel
mus t r ot at e on its ax is t o circle ar ound t he big one ?
13
13
159
A Surprise!
Wr i t e 1/81 as a r epeating decimal .
Y ou'r e in for a sur pr ise!
15
Some Glutton!
I was l unchi ng in a Sout h Indian r estaur ant. T he
place was cr owded. A man ex cus ed himself and sat at
my table. He beg an to eat idlis one af ter the other . A s
s oon as one plate was f inished he or der ed mor e. A s I
sat ther e discreetly watching hi m, s omewhat s t unned,
after he f inished the last idli he told the waiter that he
did not want any mor e. He t ook a big g ul p of water ,
l ooked at me, smiled and said 'T he last one I ate was
the 100th idli in the last five day s. Each day I ate 6 mor e
t han on the pr evious day . Ca n y ou tell me how many I
ate y ester day ? '
16
What do You Think?
o oooo
oo ooo
ooo oo
oooo o
14
Ma k e t he left ar r ang ement l ook like t he right
ar r ang ement by mov i ng only t hr ee circles f r om t he left
ar r ang ement .
17
Sum of the Reciprocals
T he s um ot t wo number s is ten. T heir pr oduct is
twenty . Ca n y ou f ind the s um of the r ecipr ocals of the
t wo number s ?
18
Bingo!
A g r oup of us were pl ay ing Bing o. I noticed
s omet hi ng very interesting. T her e wer e dif f erent Bing o
car ds with no t wo car ds hav ing the s ame set of
number s in cor r es pondi ng col umn or r ow. T he centr e
of cour s e was a free space.
How many s uch car ds ar e possibl e, can y ou tell?
19
A Combination Problem
Ca n y ou combi ne eight 8s with any other
mat hemat i cal sy mbol s ex cept number s so that they
r epr esent ex actly one t hous and?
Y ou may use the plus, mi nus ter ms, and division signs
as well as the f actorial f unct i on and the Ga mma
f unct i on. Y ou may also use t he l og ar ithms and the
combi nat or i al sy mbol .
15
104
Count the Triangles
T ake a g ood l ook at this s ket ch:
f igure ?
21
No Change!
I got out of the tax i and I was pay ing the f are. But t he
tax i driver coul d not give me chang e for the r upee
not e. T o my surprise I noticed my two f riends A s ha
and Nees ha walking towar ds me. I r equested t hem t o
give me ex act chang e for my r upee note. T hey
s ear ched their handbag s and said 'No'.
T hey bot h had ex actly Re 1.19 each in their
handbag s . But the denomi nat i ons were such that they
coul d not give the ex act chang e f or a r upee.
What denomi nat i ons of chang e coul d they have
had? T hey bot h, of cour s e, had different denomina-
tions.
16
22
Find out the Sum
Wha t is the s um of all number s between 100 and
1000 whi ch ar e divisible by 14?
23
Count the Squares
T ake a g ood l ook at this f igur e:
How many squar es are ther e in this f igur e?
24
Something for the Chickens
A f r iend of mine r uns a small poul tr y f ar m in
Bang al or e. She took me r ound t o see the place. I
count ed the number of chickens . T her e were 27 of
t hem. A nd ther e were 4 encl osur es. I noticed that in
17
each encl osur e ther e wer e an odd number of chi ckens .
Ca n y ou tell how many ther e were in each
encl os ur e?
25
Magic Square
13
6%
8 5 y
2
Ca n y ou complete this magic squar e so that the r ows,
col umns , diag onal s all add t o t he s ame number .
18
104
Find out the Value
Wha t is the value of
v/12 Wl 2 + v/l2 + M + Vl2 +
27
A Hair Raising Problem
Pr of Gui t t i er z is a very inter esting per s on. 1 met him
in Mont ev i deo, Ur ug uay s ome t i me back. We were
discussing peopl e's hair .
Pr of Gui t t i er z told me that ther e ar e about 150,000
hair s on an aver age on a man's head. I disagr eed with
him. I tol d hi m that no one coul d hav e actually come by
this f igure who woul d have t he patience to actually
take a man's head and take t he hair by hair and count
t hem!
'No' he ar g ued 'It is enoug h t o count t hem on one
s quar e cent i met r e of a man's head and knowi ng this
and the size of the hair cover ed sur f ace, one can easily
cal cul ate t he total number of hair s on a man's head'.
T hen he popped a question at me. 'It has also been
cal cul ated t hat a man sheds about 3000 hair s a mont h.
Ca n y ou tell me the average longevity of each hair on a
man's head?
Ca n y ou guess what my answer was ?
28
Value of 'S'
If S = ( l /N + 1)N
A nd N = 10
Comput e S
19
104
Test this Square
Is this a magic s quar e? If s o why ?
1 12 10
15 2 4
8
5 3
30
A Question of Age
Last winter I was in the Uni t ed Ki ng dom. T r avelling
by tr ain f r om L ondon t o Manches t er , I had f or
company t wo middle- aged Eng l ishmen who wer e
seated oppos i t e t o me. Nat ur al l y , they did not s peak t o
me becaus e we hadn't been i nt r oduced. But I coul d
not hel p over hear ing their conv er s ation.
'How old is T r acy , I wonder ? 'one as ked t he ot her .
'T r acy ! ' the other r eplied 'Let me see eig hteen
y ear s ag o he was thr ee times as old as his s on. '
'But now, it appear s , he is only twice as old as his
s on' said the f or mer .
I tr ied t o guess T r acy's ag e, and his son's age. Wha t
do y ou think my s ol ution was?
20
104
A Pair of Palindromes
Mul tipl y 21978 by 4
Now see if y ou can f ind a pair of pal indr omes .
32
A Computing Problem
Comput e :
[ 5 - 2 (4 - 5)- p
33
A Problem of Sari, Shoes and Handbag
Whe n I wal ked i nt o that s hop in New Mar ket I had
al tog ether Rs 140/- in pur se. Whe n I wal ked out I didn't
have a single paise, instead I had a sari, a pair of shoes
and a handbag .
T he sari cost Rs 90/ - mor e t han t he handbag and t he
sari and the handbag cost tog ether Rs 120/- more t han
the pair of shoes.
How much did I pay for each i t em?
34
Rule of Three
Wha t is meant by the rule of t hr ee?
35
Compute 'M'
8
m
= 32
21
104
A Matter of Denomination
One mor ni ng I went t o dr aw s ome money f r om my
bank . T he Cas hier behi nd t he count er smiled at me
and said 'I've got her e money of all denomi nat i ons . I've
g ot denomi nat i ons of 1 Paise, 5 Paise, 10 Paise, 25
Paise, 50 Paise, Rel /- , Rs2/- , Rs5/- , RslO/- , Rs20/- ,
Rs50/- , Rs 100/- , Rs500/- and RslOOO/- .
How many dif f erent amount s of money can I mak e
by t aki ng one or mor e of each denomi nat i on?
Wha t do y ou think my ans wer was ?
37
Count the Digits
Ca n y ou f ind a number whi ch added t o itself one or
several times will give a total hav ing the s ame digits as
t hat number but dif f erently ar r ang ed and af ter the
six th addi t i on will give a total of all ni nes ?
38
Prime Number
Do y ou k now whi ch is the largest known pr i me
nur hber ?
39
A Computing Problem
Comput e x if : X = + J - + ! _ + i _ + + 1_
1.2 2.3 3.4 4.5 5.6 6.7
1 . 1
+
- (n - l ) n n (n + 1)
22
104
Wrong Names of Months
It was in V i enna that I met Pr of . J el l inek. He was a
linguist. We wer e discussing cal endar s f or s ome time
Gr eg or i an cal endar , J ul i an cal endar , Hi ndu
cal endar , Chi nes e cal endar etc. T hen suddenl y he
popped this question at me.
'Don't y ou think it is str ang e. December is t he
twelf th mont h of the year. A nd do y ou k now what
actually "December means t en! 'Dak a' is a Gr eek
wor d meani ng ten. T her ef or e, decalitr e woul d mean
ten litres and decade means ten y ear s. December t hen
s houl d be the tenth mont h. But it isn't. How do y ou
ex pl ain i t ?
Wha t do y ou think my ans wer was ?
41
A Rotating Wheel
Her e is a wheel with a f ix ed centr e. A s s umi ng t hat
the out s i de diameter is of six f eet, can y ou tell how
23
many r ev ol utions will be r equir ed s o that a point on its
r im will travel one mile?
42
Continue the Series
1, 3, 6, 10
Name the nex t thr ee number s in the series
43
A Problem of Skiing
It was a skiing resort in Swi t zer l and. I met a skiing
enthus ias t by t he skiing slopes. He had a packed l unch
with hi m. He as ked me t o j oin hi m f or l unch back in t he
s pot wher e we wer e s t andi ng at 1 p. m. , af ter he had
done a bit of skiing. I tol d hi m no, as I had an
appoi nt ment t o keep at 1 p. m. But if we coul d meet at
12 noon, I told hi m that per haps I coul d manag e.
T hen he did s ome l oud t hi nki ng , "I had cal cul ated
t hat if I coul d ski at 10 kil ometr es an hour I coul d ar r ive
back at this spot by 1 p. m. T hat woul d be t oo late f or
y ou. But if I ski at the r ate of 15 kil ometr es an hour ,
t hen I woul d r each back her e at 11 a. m. A nd t hat woul d
be t oo early. Now at what r ate mus t I ski t o get back
her e at 12 noon? . . . . l et me see".
He got the right f igure and he got back ex actly at 12
noon. We had an ex cellent l unch.
Wha t do y ou think t he f igure was ?
24
104
Smallest Positive Prime
Whi ch is the smallest positive pr ime which is s ome
mul tipl e of seven less t han a cube of a count i ng
number less t han t en?
_ 45
Sum of the Coefficients
Fi nd the s um of the coef f icients if :
(a + b)
29
is ex panded.
46
A Puzzle of Numbers
It was a rainy Sunday af t er noon. I t ook shelter inside
a f r iend's hous e. He was enter taining a g r oup of
peopl e. I j oined the g r oup. We wer e discussing
number s and their inter esting qualities. T hen my
f r iend who is a mat hemat i ci an said t hat he woul d s how
us s omet hi ng very interesting.
He gave me a piece of paper and as ked me t o write
any thr ee digit number .
'Ca n ther e be any zer os in i t ? ' I asked.
'A ny number , using any digit f r om zer o t o nine. But
don't s how me the number ' he said.
I wr ote down a thr ee digit number and asked him
what to do nex t.
'Fol d the paper and pass it on to the man nex t t o
y ou' he said.
'What do I do? ' A s ked the man nex t to me.
'Wr i t e the s ame number al ong side and pass it on t o
y our nei g hbour ' he said.
25
'Now y ou've got a six digit number . Divide this '
number by seven' he said t o the man who had t he
paper .
'What if it doesn't di v i de? Wha t if it leaves a
f r act i on? ' asked that man.
'It will, don't wor r y ' said my f r iend.
'But how do y ou k now? Y ou haven't even seen t he
number '.
'Leav e that to me. J us t divide, tear a piece of paper ,
write the result on it and pass it on t o the man nex t t o
y ou. '
Whe n the nex t man got t he number , my f r iend
as ked him t o divide the number by 11 and pass on, onl y
the result t o the nex t man. T he nex t man was now
as ked t o divide the number by 13.
'T his t i me, I am sur e the number will not divide by
13. V er y few number s do' he said.
'T hat's my headache. Y ou j ust g o ahead and do t he
division' said my f riend.
'Good g od. It does divide by 13. I was j ust l ucky '
r emar ked the man with the slip.
'Now write down the result in anot her bit of paper .
Fol d it many times over s o that I do not see the number
and give it t o me' said my f r iend.
Whe n he got the f olded bit of paper , he handed it
over t o me and as ked, i s this the number y ou wr ote
down t o start wi t h? '
I was amaz ed! It was ex actly the thr ee digit number I
had wr itten at the outset.
How do y ou ex plain i t ?
26
104
Don't Cross the Lines
Her e is a sketch with thr ee squar es.
Ca n y ou dr aw a line in these thr ee squar es in one
cont i nuous line without cr ossing any lines or taking t he
pencil off t he paper ?
48
Do You have Change?
Ca n y ou chang e a r upee not e in s uch a way t hat
ther e ar e ex actly fifty coi ns ? No 2 Paise coins.
49
Abra Cadabra
S EV EN V I GI NT I L L I ON, T HREE HUNDRE D
F ORT Y S I X NOV E MDE CI L L I ON, S IX HUNDRE D
F ORT Y EI GHT OCT ODE CI L L I ON, F OUR
S EPT EDECI L L I ON, FIV E HUNDRE D S I X T Y
S E X DE CI L L I ON, NINE HUNDR E D EI GHT Y S I X
27
QUI NDE CI L L I ON, T WO HUNDRE D FIFT EEN
QUA T T OUR DECI L L I ON, T HREE HUNDR E D
F ORT Y EI GHT DUODE CI L L I ON, F OUR HUND-
RE D F ORT Y F OUR UNDE CI L L I ON, T WO HUN-
DRE D EI GHT Y S I X DECI L L I ON, F OUR HUNDR E D
F ORT Y FIV E NONI L L I ON, T HREE HUNDR E D
A ND FIV E OCT I L L I ON, ONE HUNDRE D F ORT Y
S IX S EPT IL L ION, T HI RT Y NINE S EX T I L L I ON,
ONE HUNDRE D F ORT Y QUI NT I L L I ON, F ORT Y
S IX QUA DRI L L I ON, NINE HUNDRE D S I X T Y
T RI L L I ON, SIX- HUNDR E D S EV ENT Y EI GHT
BIL L ION, FIVE HUNDRE D EI GHT Y T WO MI L L I ON,
T WO HUNDRE D FIFT Y S IX T HOUS A ND A ND
T HREE. Can y ou write this as a numer al ?
50
A Probability Problem
Is it possible that ther e are 53 T uesday s in a
non- l eap y ear ? What is the pr obabil ity ?
51_
Volume of a Cylinder
A cylindrical container has a r adius of eight inches
with a height of thr ee inches. Comput e how many
inches s houl d be added t o either the r adius or height t o
give the s ame increase in v ol ume?
52
Little Mammu and the String
'Mummy give me mor e str ing, I want t o play
t el ephone with Naval ' said my little girl Ma mmu.
28
'Mor e str ing, g ood g od! I gave y ou so much this
mor ni ng . Wha t did y ou do with t he whole ball I g ave
y ou? 'I ex cl aimed.
' Oh y ou t ook back half of what y ou gave me t o its
packag es ' Ma mmu count er ed.
'Y ou still hav e the other half of t he ball'.
'Deepa t ook half of what r emai ned, t o pack s ome
book s and toys'.
'A nd what about the r es t ? '
T he r e was very little left and A mi t t ook half of what I
had t o fix his suspender s. T hen Pallavi t ook two- f if ths
of what was r emaining t o tie her pony tail'.
'I see'.
'Now all 1 have left is 30 centimetr es. Can I possibly
play t el ephone with 30 cent i met r es ? '
How much string did I give Ma mmu in the first
pl ace?
53
Tail or Head
Suppos i ng six coins ar e f lipped, what is t he
pr obabil ity of at least getting one tail?
54
A Division Problem
Ca n y ou divide 1000 i nt o t wo par ts s uch that one
par t is a multiple of 47 and the other a multiple of 19?
29
104
- Count the Squares
Gues s how many squar es ar e ther e in this f igure.
56
The Case of the Missing Digit
A f riend of mine as ked me t o write down any
multidigit number . But , he put a condi t i on, the number
s houl d not end with a zer o.
1 put down the number 96452
T hen he asked me to add up the five digits and
s ubtr act the total f r om the original number .
I did and her e is what I g ot :
96452 - 26 = 96426
He then asked me t o cr oss out any one of the five
digits and tell him the r emaining number s . I cr ossed
out the 2 and told him the rest of the digits. I neither
told him the original number nor what I had done with
it. Y et 'pop' he told me t he ex act number I had cr os s ed
out .
How do y ou ex plain, i t ?
30
104
Magic Star
T ake a g ood l ook at this six - pointed f igure. T his is
what is k nown as a mag ic star . T he total in every r ow
adds up t o t he s ame.
1 + 12 + 10 + 3 = 26 9 + 5 + 10 + 2 = 26
4 + 6 + 7 + 9 = 26 11 + 6 + 8 + 1 = 2 6
4 + 8 + 12 + 2 = 2 6 11 + 7 + 5 + 3 = 2 6
But ther e is s omet hing imper f ect about this star .
T he s um of t he number s at t he poi nt s do not add upt o
26. Now can y ou r eplace the number s in such a way
t hat their s ums in every r ow and every point add upt o
26?
31
104
- A Problem of Weights
It was Mammu's bir thday and I decided t o buy f or
her s ome sweets. T her e was an old woman in t he
candy s hop. I noticed s omet hi ng very str ange, while
she was weighing out the sweets. She had just six
wieghts and a bal ance scale. T hat's all she had. Wi t h
just this she was able t o weigh any unit number of
ounces of candy r i g ht f r om 1 to 364.
Can y ou say what the six weights wer e?
59
When did Diophantus Die?
Her e is an epitaph of the celebr ated Gr eek
mat hemat i ci an of 250 A . D. , Di ophant us . Ca n y ou
cal cul ate his age f r om t hi s ?
DI OP HA NT US P A S S E D ONE S IX T H OF HI S
LIFE IN C HI L DHOOD, ONE T WEL FT H IN
Y OUT H, A ND ONE S EV ENT H MORE A S A
B A CHE L OR; FIV E Y EA RS A FT ER HIS MA RRI A GE
A S ON WA S B ORN W H O DI ED F OUR Y E A RS
B EFORE HIS FA T HER A T HA L F HIS FINA L A G E .
H O W OL D IS DI OP HA NT US ?
60
Pin- Point the Time
At this moment it is 9 P. M. Ca n y ou tell me what time
it will be 23999 999 992 hour s l ater ?
32
104
Question of Probability
My f riend Par veen teaches at a school . One da she
conduct ed a test for thr ee of her s t udent s and when
they handed back the test paper s , they had f or g otten
t o write their names .
Par v een r etur ned the paper s t o the s t udent s at
r andom.
Wha t is the pr obability that none of the thr ee
s t udent s will get the right paper ?
62
How Big Will it Look?
We have an angle of 1 y2 How big will it l ook
t hr oug h a glass that magnif ies thing s thr ee t i mes ?
63
A Problem of Gifts
It was Diwali day . A day to ex chang e gifts. T wo
f ather s gave their sons s ome money . One f ather gave
his s on Rs . 150/- and the ot her Rs. 100/- . But when the
t wo s ons count ed their money , they f ound t hat
bet ween t hem they had become r icher by onl y
Rs. 150/- .
How do y ou ex plain t hi s ?
64
Find out the Value
Ca n y ou f igure out ?
33
Si n
Cos
T an
Ct n
Sec
Cs c
30 =
30 =
30 =
30 =
30 =
30 =
65
Si n
Cos
T an
Ct n
Sec
Cs c
60 =
60 =
60 =
60, =
60 =
60 =
Height of a Pole
What will be the height of a pol e made up of all t he
millimetr e cubes in one cubi c metr e,if pl aced one on
t op of anot her ?
66
Volley of Questions
Her e are a set of ques t ions . Try t o f igure out the
ans wer s :
a) Is ther e a largest pair of twin pr i mes ?
34
b) Is ther e always at least one pr i me between t wo
successive perf ect s quar es ?
c) Is ther e a largest even per f ect numbe r ?
d) Is ther e a f or mul a in t er ms of N, wher e N is any
nat ur al number , that will onl y gener ate pr imes f or
all N?
e) Is Fer mat 's last t heor em t r ue or f alse? His last
t heor em states that 'T he equat i on x "+ y =2 wher e
'n' is an integer greater t han t wo, has no sol ution in
positive integers.
f ) Is it possible that s omewher e in the decimal
appr ox i mat i on f or pi ther e occur seven consecu-
tive seven e.g. = 3.14159 ...7777777
g) Is it possible that every even number greater t han
t wo can be wr itten as t he s um of ex actly t wo
pr i mes ?
h) Is it possible that if the r atio of the number of twin
pr i mes less t han N to the number of pr imes less
t han N appr oaches s ome limit as N gets larger and
l ar g er ?
i) Is it possibl e that t he series of Mer s enne pr i mes
cont i nues for ever, or has a largest member ?
j) Wha t is t he best way t o pack t he mos t spher es i nt o
a given container with a given v ol ume?
k) Is it possible that ther e ex ists maps that r equir e
five dif f erent col our s so t hat t wo countr ies with a
c ommon boundar y hav e dif f erent col our s ?
1) Is it possible that ther e ar e odd perf ect number s ?
m) Is it possible that ther e ex ist a pair of available
number s of oppos i t e par i t y one odd, one even.
67
Cutting the Face of a Clock
Her e is t he f ace of a cl ock.
35
t hem is the s ame?
T his pr obl em is a sur e test of y our ingenuity and
r esour cef ulness.
68
Beetles and Spiders
Nav al collected 8 spider s and beetles i nt o a little
box . Whe n he count ed t he legs he f ound t hat ther e
wer e altogether 54.
How many beetles and how many spider s did he
col l ect?
69
Value of 'S'
S434S0 What number mus t be substituted with 'S'
t o mak e it divisible by 36?
36
104
Read out the Figure
A L ondon monument is mar k ed as f ollows:
MDCL X V I
Wha t year does it r epr esent?
71
Rupees One Hundred For Rupees Five
Recentl y I at t ended a mag ic f unct i on. T he mag ician
made a very attr active pr opos al f r om the stag e:
'Ca n any one in t he aif dience give me Rs5/- in 20
coins. One condition. T he coins mus t be of 50F, 20P
and 5P denomi nat i ons . No ot her coins woul d do. T o
any one who can give me this I am willing t o give away
RslOO/- . One hundr ed r upee f or f ive! '
Ever y one was silent. No one went f or war d. S ome
peopl e beg an t o l ook f or bits of paper s and pencil in
their pocket s evidently t o cal cul ate their chances. But
no one went f or war d.
T he mag ician r enewed his of f er once agaig. 'What ,
no taker s. No one wants t o mak e easy money ! '
T her e was silence in t he audi t or i um.
'Per haps y ou think it is t oo much t o give me Rs5/- in
ex chang e of RslOO/- Alr ight I'll t ake only Rs3/- . Of
cour s e, in the s ame denomi nat i ons as I ment i oned
alr eady . T wenty coins. How about that now? '
No one stirred.
'Al r ig ht, al r ight! T he mag ician went on. 'Even thr ee
r upees y ou think is t oo much t o ex chang e for Rs 100/- . 1
will come down even mor e. Onl y t wo r upees j us t t wo
r upees ' he s howed his t wo f ingers 'f or r upees one
hundr ed'. Y ou can't let g o of s uch an oppor t uni t y ,
37
really. Ladies and g ent l emen. J us t t wo r upees i n t he
denomi nat i on I ment i oned al r eady t went y coi ns
f or r upees one hundr ed! '
Not hi ng happened. He r enewed his of f er several
times and finally he g ave up.
Why do y ou t hi nk no one came f or war d t o t ake
adv ant ag e of t he mag ician's mos t attr active pr opos al ?
A Curve called Helen!
Ca n y ou tell what cur v e has been called t he 'Hel en of
Geomet er s '?
Her e are seven pr i me number s : 5,7,11,13,17,19,23
Ca n y ou ar r ang e these pr i me number s in the seven
circles s o that t he r ows and diag onal s add upt o t he
s ame pr ime numbe r ?
72
73
A Prime Number Game
38
104
Three Digit Number
153 = l
3
+ 5
3
+ 3
3
Ca n y ou f ind s ome other thr ee digit number s like
t hi s ?
75
Interesting Sums
Wha t is inter esting about t he f ollowing s um:
a)
1 + 3 + 5 = ?
b)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7
= ?
c)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = ?
d)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 = ?
e)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + 13 = ?
f)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + 13 + 15 = ?
9)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7
+ 9 + 11 + 13 + 15 + 17 = ?
h)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 289 + 291 + 293 + 295
i)
1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + 13 + 'R = ?
76
Pentagon in a Circle
How can y ou inscr ibe a pent ag on in a given cir cl e?
77
A Problem of Typing
It was a day of r us h. I had t o s end off t he ty pescr ipt
t o my publisher by t he evening 's mail. Mr Das Gupt a ,
my s tenog r apher is a very ex per i enced per son and he,
39
I knew coul d do the j ob neatly and quickly. But even he
woul d take 2 hour s t o f inish the j ob. T his coul dn't have
done! S q I decided t o eng ag e anot her typist. S he
woul d do a neat j ob, I was t ol d, but she was not a fast
typist like Mr Das Gupt a. S he l ooked at the j ob and
said that if she wer e t o do t he entire j ob by herself , it
woul d take her thr ee hour s .
I decided to let t hem do t he j ob side by side.
Wi t hi n how much t i me, can y ou tell, the t wo of t hem
f inished t he wor k ?
78
A Diwali Gathering
It was t he Diwal i day . A nd on this day we decided
that my whol e f amily s houl d meet. T he g ather ing
consisted of one g r and- f ather , one g r and- mot her , t wo
f ather s, t wo mot her s , f our chil dr en, thr ee grand- child-
r en, one br other , t wo sisters, t wo sons, two daug ht er s ,
one f ather - in- law, one mother - in- l aw, and one
daughter - in- law. We wer e altogether seven.
How do y ou ex plain i t ?
79
The Property of Numbers
T ake a g ood look at the f igures in the s ket ches :
Each of the sets of number s has a pr oper ty
concer ni ng cubes of its el ement s ! Ca n y ou f ind the
pr oper t y ?
80
Find out the Number
Can y ou f ind a number of nine non- r espective digits
that is divisible by 11?
Fi nd t he smallest of s uch number as well as the
biggest.
81
Divide the Crescent
Her e is a cr escent.
Ca n y ou divide it into six par t s by dr awing just t wo
str aight l ines?
82
Convert into Roman Figures
Ca n y ou write 1789 in Roma n f igur es?
41
104
Mammu and the Eiffel Tower
Last time we wer e in Par is. Ma mmu and I Ma mmu
fell in love with the Eiffel T ower . She beg an t o insist
that we carry t he Eiffel T ower back to India. I tr ied t o
ex plain t o her that s uch a thing was impossibl e. But
not hi ng woul d mak e her see r eason. Finally I had t o
pr omi s e her that I woul d hav e an identical tower made
in miniat ur e, for her .
In or der t o hav e a smaller replica made I enqui r ed
t he ex act data of t he Eiffel T ower Here are t he detail s:
T he Eiffel T ower is 300 metr es high.
It is made of steel.
T he weight of steel us ed is 8,000,000 ki l og r ammes .
I have decided to or der the model to be made with
only 1 ki l og r amme of steel.
How high do y ou t hi nk my Eiffel T ower woul d be?
84
Find out the Time
Wha t does 1408 hour s mean?
85
A Problem of Thickness
We have a large, very thin sheet of rice paper whi ch
pile at the rate of one t hous and sheets t o the inch
Suppos i ng we tear the paper in half and put the t wo
pieces together , on t op of each other , and we tear
t hem in half and put the f our pieces together in a pile
and then we tear t hem again in half and put t he eight
42
pieces together in a pile, and we cont i nue like this upt o
fifty times, can y ou tell how high t he final stack of paper
woul d be?
86
Name the Series
What is the name given t o t he ser ies?
1 +
l
+
l l l
+
l
+
A
+

+
l
+
i
8
87
Sum of the Angles
T he heavy figure is a Conv ex Hex ag on.
Ca n y ou f ind the s um meas ur es of the angles A , B,
C, D, E, F
88
Name the Series
Wha t is the name given to t he ser ies?
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 ?
43
104
Find out the Pattern
Wha t do y ou t hi nk t he f ollowing patter n is?
6, 24, 60, 120, 210, 336
90
Weight of a Brick
We hav e a br ick of regular size. It weighs 4
kil og r ammes . How much do y ou think a similar br ick,
f our times smaller , but made of the s ame mater ial
weigh?
91
A Coin Game
Recentl y , a f r iend of mi ne showed me a very
inter esting g ame with coins. She asked me t o br ing
thr ee saucer s first and she placed t hem in a line. T hen
s he pl aced 5 coins of dif f erent denomi nat i ons , one on
t op of anot her in the first saucer .
T he coins wer e of the denomi nat i ons Rel /- , 50P,
10P, 5P and 25P and she pl aced t he coins in t he or der
of their sizesmal l est on t op and biggest in the
bot t om.
S he now asked me t o tr anspose these coins t o the
thir d saucer obser ving the conditions that I t r ans pos e
only one coin at a time, I do not place a bigger on a
small one and I use t he middl e saucer only tempor ar il y
obser v ing t he first t wo condi t i ons but that ir. t he end
the coins must be in thir d saucer and in t he original
or der .
44
' Oh that's very simpl e. T his har dly needs much
ef f ort' I said.
1 t ook the 25P coin and put it in t he thir d saucer .
T hen I kept the 5P coin in the middl e saucer . Now I got
s t uck. I did not know wher e t o put the 10P coin. It was
bigger t han bot h!
My f riend smiled and said 'put the 25P coin on t op of
t he 5P coin. T hen y ou can put t he 10P coin in the thir d
saucer '.
I saw my way and did ex actly what she told me. But
t o my great surprise I saw that my tr oubl e had j ust
beg un. Wher e do I put the 50P coi n?
I did a lot of thinking. I put t he 25P coin into the first
saucer , the 5P coin into t he thir d and then t r ans pos ed
the 25P coin ther e two. A nd now I coul d pl ace t he 50P
coin in the second saucer .
Af ter numer ous t r ans pos i t i ons at l astI was able
t o succeed in moving the entir e pile of coins f r om t he
first saucer to the thir d.
How many moves did I mak e al tog ether ?
92
Dropping a Ball
A little ball is dr opped f r om a height of 8 ft. and it
bounces back each t i me t o a height which is one- hal f
of t he height of the last bounce.
How far appr ox imatel y will the ball hav e tr avelled
when it comes to r est?
93
Find out the Sequence
Wha t are the nex t t er ms in the s equence?
17, 15, 26, 22, 35, 29
45
104
'Puzzle of the Matches
A f riend of mi ne ertiptied a box of mat ches on t he
tabl e and div ided t hem i nt o thr ee heaps, while we
s t ood ar ound him wonder i ng what he was g oing t o do
nex t.
He l ooked up and said 'well f r iends, we hav e her e
thr ee unev en heaps . Of cour s e y ou k now t hat a mat ch
box cont ai ns al tog ether 48 mat ches . T his I don't hav e
t o tell y ou. A nd I a m not g oing t o tell y ou how many
ther e ar e in each heap'.
'What do y ou want us t o do? ' one of t he men
s hout ed.
'L ook well, and t hi nk. If I t ake off as many mat ches
f r om t he first heap as ther e ar e in t he s econd and add
t hem t o t he s econd, and t hen t ake as many f r om t he
s econd as ther e ar e in t he t hir d and add t hem t o t he
t hi r d, and lastly if I t ake as many f r om the thir d as t her e
ar e in t he first and add t hem t o t he f i r s t t hen t he
heaps will all hav e equal number of mat ches . '
A s we all s t ood t her e puzzl ed he asked, 'Ca n y ou tell
me how many wer e ther e originally in each heap? '
Ca n y ou?
95
Make a Magic Square
46
Fill in t he empt y s quar es wi t h pr i me number s and
mak e this into a mag ic s quar e.
Multiplication Problem
Nav al has wor ked out this mul tipl ication pr obl em.
Has he done it cor r ectly . Wha t is his me t hod? Do y ou
t hi nk this met hod will wor k in ot her pr obl ems in
mul tipl ication al s o?
57
84
588
420
4788
Ca n y ou pl ace the number s 1 1 , 1 2, 1 3, 1 4, 1 5 , 1 6 and
1 7each number in one circle s o t hat any thr ee circles
in a line has number s whi ch total t he s ame s um?
31 1 42
96
97
Magic Circles
47
104
Name Five Terms of Another Series
T hese ar e t he number s that ar e the first five t er ms of
a series that add upt o 150. Ca n y ou name five t er ms of
anot her series wi t hout f r actions that add upt o 153?
10, 20, 30, 40, 50
99
Knitting Needle
Is a 'size 16' knit t ing needle twice as thick as a 'size 8'
knitting needl e?
100
A Problem of Chain Letters
I opened my mail box this mor ning . Wha t do I see in
it ? A chain letter. T his seems t o t ur n up every now and
then in one f or m or anot her .
I beg an to wonder . If one per son s ends a cer tain
letter t o two f r iends, asking each of t hem t o copy t he
letter and s end it t o t wo of their f riends, t hos e in t ur n
each send t wo letters t o t wo of their f riends and so on
how many letters woul d have been sent by t he t i me t he
letter did thirty sets.
I cal cul ated and I had a sur pr ise waiting f or me. T he
answer was gigantic. Wha t do y ou think t he answer
was ?
48
104
Substitute the Question Marks
0, 1 , 2 , 3, 4, 5 , 6 , 7, 8 , 9
? ? ?
+ ? ? ?
= ? ? ?
Us i ng each of t he digits given abov e, and us ing each
digit ex actly once fill in t he ques t i on mar ks .
102
A Problem of Ping Pong
T her e ar e 150 member s in my cl ub. We deci ded t o
hav e a ping pong t our nament . All t he me mbe r s came
f or war d t o play in t he g ame. Ever y time a member
loses a g ame he is out of t he t our nament .
T her e are no ties.
Ca n y ou tell how many g ames mus t be pl ay ed in
or der t o det er mi ne t he cha mpi on?
103
Missing Terms
48, 60, 58, 72, 68, 104
Her e is a s equence. Ca n y ou f ind the t wo missing
t er ms ?
49
104
- Measure out the Time
We have an ol d g r andpa cl ock at home. It takes
seven s econds f or this cl ock t o strike seven g ong s.
Now how long do y ou t hi nk it will t ake f or str iking ten
gongs.
105
Packets of Candy
If 6 men can pack 6 packet s of candy in 6 mi nut es
how many men ar e r equir ed t o pack 60 packet s in 60
mi nut es ?
106
Classify the Numbers
Her e ar e a set of number s :
161 163 167 169 187
289 293 365 367 371
Ca n y ou classify these number s as pr i me number s
and compos i t e number s . A nd when y ou f ind a
compos i t e number , can y ou give its pr i me f act or s ?
107
A Problem of Weight
In my nei g hbour hood lives a man who weighs 200
pounds . He has t wo sons. T hey bot h weigh 100
pounds each. On a festival day they decide t o g o
acr oss the river on a boat t o visit s ome r elations. But
50
t he boat coul d car r y a max i mum load of only 200
pounds .
Y et they manag ed t o get acr oss the river by boat .
How did t hey ?
108
Biggest Number
Wha t is the biggest number that can be ex pr essed in
thr ee f igur es?
109
Find Out
1757051
T ake a g ood l ook at this number . Now tell me, is it a
pr i me number ? If not , what ar e its f actor s?
110
Mnemonic
'May I have a large cont ai ner of cof f ee? '
T his is a mnemoni c. Can y ou tell what it signif ies?
111
A Problem of Ribbon
We have a 100 ft piece of r ibbon.
If it takes one s econd t o cut it into a 1 f oot str ip how
long woul d it take to cut the entir e r ibbon into one f oot
str ips?
51
112
A Problem of Gooseberries
Whe n I was a little girl, one day my mot her had left a
bowl of gooseber r ies t o be shar ed between my t wo
sisters Lal itha, V as ant ha and myself . I went home first.
I ate what I t houg ht was my shar e of gooseber r ies and
left. T hen Lalitha ar r ived. She t houg ht she was the first
one t o arrive and ate the number of gooseber r ies, she
t houg ht was her shar e and left. Lastly V as ant ha
ar r ived. S he again t houg ht she was the first one t o
arrive and she t ook what she thoug ht was her shar e
and left 8 gooseber r ies in the bowl.
Whe n we thr ee sisters met in the evening we
r ealized what had happened and my mot her
distr ibuted the r emai ni ng 8 gooseber r ies in a fair shar e.
How did my mot her do i t ?
113
Value of a Googol
How much is a g oog ol ?
114
Angle of Hands
T he time is 2.15 P. M. Wha t is the angle between the
hour and mi nut e hands ?
115
A Problem of Candy Bars
Recently I attended a bir thday par ty. All the chil dr en
in t he par ty were given candy bars. All the chil dr en got
52
thr ee candy bar s each ex cept the child sitting in t he
end. S he got only t wo candy bar s. If only each chil d
had been given t wo candy bar s ther e woul d have been
eight candy bar s r emaining . How many candy bar s
wer e ther e altogether to begin wi t h?
116
Speeding Train
T he distance between Bang al or e to My s or e is about
60 miles. T wo trains leave at 10 in the mor ni ng . One
tr ain leaves Bang al or e at 40 mph and the other f r om
My s or e at 50 mph. Whe n they meet are they near er t o
Bang al or e or My s or e?
117
Why Front Wheels Wear Out?
Per haps y ou have noticed the wheels of s ome
car t s t he f ront ones are smaller t han 4he rear ones .
Why do the f ront ax les wear out faster t han the r ear ?
118
Match Sticks
Her e are twelve mat ch sticks. Ca n y ou r emov e
ex actly t wo s o that ex actly t wo squar es r emai n?
119
Mathematical Oddity
In the 20th Cent ur y ther e are only seven y ear s
whos e number s ar e a mat hemat i cal oddity becaus e
their number s signify a pr i me number . T he first one of
its ki nd was the year 1951. Ca n y ou name t he ot her
s ix ?
120
Two Pumpkins
I was s hoppi ng f or vegetables at t he New Mar ket . I
saw t wo pumpk i ns of t he s ame quality but of dif f erent
sizes. One was bigger t han t he other . T he bigger one
was 60 cm in cir cumf er ence and the other 50 cm. I
asked the v endor the pr ice. T he bigger one was one
and a half times mor e ex pensive. Whi ch one do y ou
think woul d have been a better buy .
121
Division of 45
Can y ou divide the number 45 into f our par t s s uch
that when 2 is added t o t he first par t, 2 is s ubt r act ed
f r om the s econd par t, 2 is multiplied by the t hir d par t,
and t he f our th par t is divided by 2. All t he f our r esults
s houl d be the s ame number .
54
258
A Problem of Probability
T his happened when I was visiting Bag aio, a hol iday
r esor t in t he Phi l i ppi nes .
I was l unchi ng with a y oung mat hemat i cs pr of essor
who was al so hol iday ing. We wer e seated at a tabl e by
t he wi ndow. We s poke about v ar ious things and finally
we hit upon t he subj ect of t he det er mi nat i onal of t he
pr obabil ity of a coi nci dence.
T he pr of essor , incidentally his name is Pr of . A l f r edo
Gar ci a he t ook out a coi n and said 'Now wat ch, I
am g oing t o flip this coi n on t he tabl e wi t hout l ooki ng .
Tell me what 's t he pr obabil ity of a tail- up t ur n? '
A t t hat time t wo ot her f r iends of our s wal ked in and
j oi ned us at the tabl e f or cof f ee. We briefly ex pl ai ned t o
t hem t he topic of our discussion.
'First of all, pr of essor , ex pl ain co us what is
'pr obabil ity ' said one of t he t wo f r iends.'
'Y es , please do. Not ev er y one knows it' I said.
'Cer t ainl y . Wel l it's really very simple. If I toss a coin
in t he air , ther e are only t wo possibl e way s in whi ch it
woul d fall. Head or tail. Of these only one will be
ex actly what we want . Let's call it a f av our abl e
occur r ence. T hen it can be deduced mat hemat i cal l y
this way .
T he number of f av our abl e occur r ence = 1
T he number of possible occur r ence = 2
In this way t he pr obabil ity of a tail- up can be
r epr es ented by t he f r action y
2
.
Wha t if it is not a c o i n. . . . say it is s omet hi ng mor e
compl i cat ed' inter r upted one of the f riends.
'Say for ex ampl e a die' j oi ned in the other .
'Y eah, a die. Let me s e e . . . . of c o ur s e . . . . it's
cubical in shape'.
55
T he pr of essor was t houg ht f ul for a moment . T hen
he cont i nued ' Y e a h. . . . it has number s on each of its
f aces . . . . 1,2,3,4,5,6, . . . .'
'Now what's t he pr obabi l i t y . . . . o f . . . . say number 6
t ur ni ng up'? I as ked.
'Wel l , ther e are six f aces. T her ef or e we hav e t o see
how many possible occur r ences ther e are said t he
pr of essor . 'A ny of t he number s f r om 1 t o 6 can t ur n up.
T he f av our abl e occur r ence f or us, natur ally will be 6.
A nd natur ally the pr obabil ity in this case will be 1/6'.
'But can y ou really comput e in this manner any
event'? quer ied one of t he f riends. 'T ake for ex ampl e, if
I wer e t o bet that t he very nex t per s on t o pass our
wi ndow will be a woman, what's the pr obability that I
woul d win t he bet? '
'Wel l , 1 woul d say it is
l
/
2
, pr ov ided we decide t o
r egar d even a little boy as a man and a little girl as a
woman', t he pr of essor r eplied.
T hat 's as s umi ng that ther e's an equal numoer of
men and women in t he wor l d' I j oined in.
'In s uch a case what 's t he pr obability that t he first
wo per sons passing t he wi ndow will be men? ' one of
t he f riends as ked.
'Wel l , a comput at i on of this kind will be a little mor e
compl i cat ed. We'l l hav e t o try all the possible
combi nat i ons . T he first possibility will be t hat bot h t he
per s ons will be men. S econd possibility that t he first
per s on may be a man and s econd a woman. T hi r d, the
first per s on may be a woman and s econd a man.
Four t h, bot h the per s ons may be women. T hat makes
f our combi nat i ons . A nd of cour se, of these f our
combi nat i ons only one is f avour able'.
'I see' I ag r eed.
'So, t he pr obabil ity is V
4
t he pr of essor cont i nued.
'A nd that's the s ol ut i on t o y our pr obl em'.
We wer e all silent f or a moment . T hen one of the
f r iehds s poke.
56
'Suppos i ng , instead of two, we t hi nk of thr ee men.
Wha t woul d be the pr obabil ity that the first t hr ee
per s ons to pass our wi ndow will be men? '
'T he sol ution is obv i ous , isn't it? ' the pr of essor said.
'We start by comput i ng t he number of possibl e
combi nat i ons . Whe n we cal cul ated for t wo passer s by ,
the number of combi nat i ons we f ound was 4. Now by
addi ng one mor e passer- by we have t o doubl e t he
number of possible combi nat i ons , becaus e each of t he
f our g r oups of the t wo passers- by can be j oined by a
man or a woman. T hat makes t he number of possibl e
combi nat i ons in this case 4x 2 = 8.'
'One woul d have never t houg ht of it t hat way '
r emar ked a f riend.
'But y ou see it for a f act! T he pr obability is quiet
obv i ous it is 1/8. Onl y one in eight will be a
f av our abl e occur r ence. T he met hod of cal cul ating t he
pr obability is very easy really'.
T he pr of essor t ook out a ball pen f r om his pocket
and wr ot e on the white tabl e cl oth.
'T wo passer s by, t he pr obability is % x
x
k = % OK '
'Y es ' I agr eed.
'For thr ee it is >/2 x
l
/2 x
:
/2 =
l
/&'
'A g r eed' said a f r iend.
'Now f or f our the pr obabil ity will be, natur al l y , t he
pr oduct of 4 halves, that is 1/16'.
'It appear s the pr obability gr ows less each time'
r emar ked a f riend.
'Rig ht. T ake the case ot ten passer s by, for ex ampl e.
T he answer s will be the pr oduct of 10 halves. Do y ou
k now how much it is 1/1024'.
'No' we all said in a chor us .
'In other wor ds' said one of t he f riends 'If I bet a
dollar that the first ten passers- by will be all men,
chances of winning t he bet is only 1/1024'
57
'Wel l I can put up a bet for a $ 100.00 t hat it will not
happen'. T he pr of essor said very conf identl y .
'I can surely use a hundr ed dollars. Wi s h I coul d
cat ch y du on t hat bet pr of essor ' I j oined.
'But then y our chance to win will be only one in one
t hous and twenty- f our'.
'I don't mi nd . . . . all I woul d be losing is onl y $ 1.00'
'Still a dollar is dollar ' said a f riend.
'A nd y our chances of wi nni ng t he bet is s o r emot e'
said the other .
I l ooked out of t he window. T he r oad was s omewhat
deser ted. Af ter l unch, mos t peopl e wer e home
enj oy ing their af ter- lunch siestas. I l ooked at my wat ch.
It was al mos t appr oachi ng 2 P. M. only a mi nut e or
s o left. I s poke quickl y .
'Tell me pr of essor , what are the chances of my
winning . If I wer e t o bet one dollar against one hundr ed
that the nex t hundr ed passers- by outside our wi ndow
will be men'.
'Y our chances of wi nni ng woul d be even less t han
one in a million for twenty passers- by and f or 100
passers- by t he pr obabil ity woul d be even less t han' he
wr ot e on t he tabl e cl oth
1
1000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
'Really! ' I r emar ked 'I still want t o t ake t he bet with
y ou t hat t he nex t one hundr ed passers- by will be men'.
'I will give y ou one t hous and dollars instead of one
hundr ed. Y ou can't win t he bet' he said ex citedly.
I l ooked at my wat ch again. It was only a few s econds
bef or e 2 P. M.
A s our f riends wat ched us with utter amus ement I
r eached for the pr of essor 's hand and s hook it,
conf ir ming t he bet. T he very nex t moment s omet hi ng
happend.
58
In ex actly five mi nut es af ter t hat the pr of essor was
headi ng towar ds the bank t o encas h all his travellers
cheques in or der t o pay me my one t hous and dollar s.
How do y ou think I won my bet.
123
Arrange the Digits
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Her e ar e the nine digits.
Ca n y ou ar r ange the nine digits in or der f r om left t o
right and + or signs only s o as t o pr oduce a result of
100?
124
Something in the Way of Calculus
We hav e a r ectang ul ar sheet of tinf oil whos e
di mens i ons are 32 centimetr es by 20 centimetr es.
Equal squar es are cut out at each of the corners.
Ca n y ou f ind the max i mum v ol ume of a wooden box
whi ch can be lined by suitably bendi ng the tinf oil t o
cover t he base and sides of t he box ?
125
The Problem of the Music Concert
Recentl y I was at a mus i c concer t in Cal cut t a. I was
sitting only one hundr ed feet away f r om t he mus icians .
T he per f or mance was being br oadcas t ed. My sister
V as ant ha who lives in Bang al or e also hear d t he s ame
concer t on - the r adio. I am sur e y ou k now that
Bang al or e is over a t hous and miles away f r om
59
Cal cut t a, and al so t hat s ound travels at 1100 feet per
s econd.
Do y oli t hi nk ther e was any dif f erence in t he times at
whi ch the mus i c was hear d by V as ant ha and myself ? If
s o which one of us did hear the given not e first?
126
Count the Triangles
Ca n y ou tell how many triangles are ther e in each of
these f igur es?
60
258
Third Dimension of a Box
I have a box . T he t wo di mens i ons of the box are 4"
and 3". Comput e the thir d di mens i on of the box so
that the space diagonal of the box is an integer.
128
Out in the Cold
Ma mmu and I, we wer e on a t our of Wes t Ger many .
It was a very cold winter evening. We s t epped in t he
street t o walk to a cof f ee s hop. Ma mmu is only five and
a half years old. We wer e dr essed similarly. Who do
y ou think felt colder ?
129
Height of a Room
Gi v en the f loor ar ea of a r oom as 24 feet by 48 f eet,
and the space diagonal of t he r oom as 56 f eet, can y ou
f ind the height of the r oom?
130
Average Speed
It was a long drive. I dr ov e 60 kil ometr es at 30
kil ometr es per hour and t hen an additional 60
kil ometr es at 50 kilometr es per hour .
61
Comput e my aver age speed over the 120
kilometr es.
131
Special Number
What is special about this number 1729 ?
132
A Problem of Water Lillies
In India water lillies gr ow ex tremely rapidly in the
ponds . If the g r owth enlar ged so much that each day it
cover ed a sur f ace doubl e that which it filled t he day
bef or e, so that at the end of the 20th day if entirely
cover ed the pond, in which it grew, how l ong woul d it
t ake t wo water lillies qf the s ame size at the outset and
at the s ame r ate of g r owth t o cover the s ame pond?
133
Decode the Mnemonic
Her e is a piece of Mnemoni c:
Now I even I, woul d celebrate
In r hy mes unapt the great
Immor t al sy r acusan rivaled never mor e,
who in his wondr ous lore
Passed on bef or e,
Lef t men his g ui dance
How to circles mens ur ate.
Ca n y ou tell what it signifies?
62
258
Computing to Infinity
How much is
1/7 + 2/7
2
+ 1/7
3
+ 2/7
4
+ 1/7
5
+ 2/7
6
+ 1 /7
7
. . . .
t o inf inity ?
135
How to Increase the Volume?
A cylindrical container has a r adius of eight inches
and a height of thr ee inches.
Comput e how many inches s houl d be added t o
either t he r adius or height t o give t he s ame incr ease in
t he v ol ume?
136
A Problem of Family Relations
Every man or woman alive t oday had 2 par ent s , 4
gr and- par ents, 8 great- grand par ent s , 16 great- great-
g r and par ent s , 32 gr eat, gr eat, gr eat g r and par ent s and
so on.
Let us t ake the case of Ram. T wo g ener ations ag o
Ram had 2 x 2 or2
2
, or 4 ancestor s. T hr ee g ener ations
ag o he had 2 x 2 x 2 or 2
3
or 8 ancestor s. Four
g ener ations ago he had 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 or 2
4
or 16
ancestor s.
A s s umi ng that ther e ar e 20 y ear s t o a g ener ation,
can y ou tell 400 years back how many ances t or s did
Ram have?
63
258
Counting A Billion
If y ou wer e t o count one number per s econd and
count ed seven hour s per day , how l ong woul d it t ake
y ou t o count t o a Billion?
138
A Question of Identity
Is this a pr i me number ?
1000009
139
Deck of Cards
A s t andar d deck of car ds has 52 car ds. Wha t is t he
pr obabil ity t hat six car ds dr awn at r andom will all be
black car ds?
140
Value of 'X'
17 . x = 17 + x
Wha t is the value of X ?
64
258
Solving Problems
Romi l a appear ed f or a mat hs ex am. S he was given
100 pr obl ems t o solve. She tr ied t o solve all of t hem
cor r ectly but s ome of t hem went wr ong . A ny how she
scor ed 85.
Her scor e was cal cul ated by s ubt r act i ng t wo times
t he number of wr ong ans wer s f r om t he number of
cor r ect answer s.
Ca n y ou tell how many pr obl ems s he sol v ed
cor r ectly ?
JL42
Boy or Girl
V i k r am Cha dda has t wo chil dr en, and at least one of
t hem is a girl. Wha t is t he pr obabil ity that bot h chil dr en
are gir ls?
143
Playing Children
A g r oup of boy s and girls ar e play ing. 15 boy s leave.
T her e r emain t wo girls f or each boy . T hen 45 girls
leave. T her e r emain five boy s f or each girl. How many
boy s wer e in the or iginal g r oup?
65
258
Amicable Numbers
T he number s 220 and 284 are k nown as amicabl e
number s . T he r eas on is the s um of t he pr oper divisions
of 220 equal s 284 and what is even mor e inter esting is
t he s um of t he pr oper divisors of 284 equal s 220.
S o f ar about 100 pair s of amicabl e number s ar e
known. Ca n y ou f ind s ome in f our digits?
145
Matching Pair of Socks
Ma mmu has 16 pair s of white socks and 16 pair s of
br own s ocks . S he keeps t hem all in t he s ame dr awer . If
she picks out t hr ee socks at r andom what is t he
pr obability s he will get a mat chi ng pai r ?
146
Naming A Number
T ake a g ood l ook at this number : 222221
Is it a pr i me number ?
147
A Problem of Roofing Paper
For doing t he inter ior decor ations of my apar t ment ,
66
I have boug ht a roll of r oof ing paper . I do not k now its
ex act thickness, but let us as s ume it is X . How can I
f ind out how long t he roll is without unr olling it? In
ot her wor ds , can y ou der ive a f or mul a for length of roll
if the r adius is r ?
148
Positive Integers
Wha t are t he thr ee positive integer s whos e s um is 43
and t he s um of t he cubes of the thr ee integer s is
17299
2
.
149
Dimensions of a Rectangle
Onl y t wo r ectangles have dimens ions that ar e
integers and their ar ea and per imeter equal t he s ame
number . Ca n y ou f ind bot h?
150
My Bank Balance
My bank pays me 4% simpl e interest compounded
annual l y . If I deposit one hundr ed dollar s at t he
beg inning of each year for five years, what woul d be my
bal ance at the end of five year s?
151
The Benediktov Problem
T he great Rus s i an poet Benedi kt ov (1807- 1873) was
67
very f ond of mat hemat i cs and he col l ected and
compi l ed a whol e v ol ume of tr icky br ain teasers.
T houg h' his wor k was never publ i s hed, t he manus cr i pt
was f ound in 1924. A n inter esting pr obl em cont ai ned in
t he manus cr i pt , capt i oned 'A n Ing eni ous Way of
Sol v ing a T r icky Pr obl em' goes as f ollows:
One woman who made a living by selling eggs had 90
eggs whi ch s he want ed t o sell, so s he sent her thr ee
daug ht er s t o t he mar ket , giving 10 eggs t o her eldest
and cleverest daug ht er , 30 t o t he s econd and 50 t o t he
thir d.
'Y ou'd better agr ee among y our sel ves,' she tol d
t hem, 'about t he pr ice y ou'r e g oing t o ask f or t he eggs,
and keep t o it. St i ck t o t he pr ice y ou decide upon. But I
hope t hat , in spite of y our ag r eement , t he eldest, being
t he cleverest, will r eceive as much for her t en eggs as
t he s econd will r eceive f or her thirty and will teach t he
s econd t o sell her thirty eggs f or as much as t he
y oung es t will sell her fifty. In ot her wor ds , each of y ou
is t o br ing home t he s ame amount , and t he total f or t he
90 eggs is not t o be less t han 90 kopeks . '
A kopek may be tr eated as a r upee. How do y ou
t hi nk t he girls car r ied out t he ins tr uctions of their
mot her .
152
A Computing Problem
Comput e:
(100- 1) (100- 2) (100- 3) . . . . (100+ 1) (100+ 2)
(100 + 3) = ?
153
Number Wheel
Her e is a number wheel. Ca n y ou ar r ang e t he
68
number s 1 t o 9 in s uch a way as t o have one of t hem in
the centr e and t he rest at t he ends of t he di amet er s ?
T he s um of t he t hr ee number s on. each di amet er
s houl d be 15.
154
Largest Number
Wha t is t he largest number y ou can write with t he
f ollowing Roma n numer al s ?
I. C. X V . L .
Y ou can use each numer al only once.
155
A Circle and a Triangle
Wha t do y ou call a circle whi ch passes t hr oug h t he
vertices of a triangle?
69
268
Every One has the Same Answer!
We wer e a g r oup of f our , sipping cof f ee in a way side
caf e near Mont mar t r e in Paris. A ndr e is a s tudent of
mat hemat i cs at t he Univer sity and he is very clever
with number s . He s howed us a very inter esting puzzl e.
He as ked us all t o t hi nk of a number any single
digit. We wer e not s uppos ed t o disclose t he number t o
each other . He as ked us t o add 9 t o t he number and
t hen s quar e it. Fr om this he as ked us t o s ubtr act the
s quar e of t he original number and again s ubtr act 61
f r om t he r esult. T his number , he as ked us t o multiply
by 2, add 24 and s ubt r act 36 times t he original number .
Now he as ked us t o t ake t he s quar e r oot of that
number .
T o our sur pr ise he tol d us the ex act number we had
finally got and what was even mor e amazi ng was that
we, all t he thr ee of us, had got t he s ame final result.
How do y ou ex pl ain it?
157
A Circle and a Polygon
What do y ou call a circle that t ouches all t he sides of
a pol y g on ?
159 _ _
Life of the Sun
Ca n y ou tell how l ong the s un has ex i s t ed?
70
159
Number of Poles in a Fence
A f ar mer built a f ence ar pund his 17 cows , in a
s quar e s haped r egion. He us ed 27 f ence pol es on each
side of the squar e.
How many pol es did he need al t og et her ?
160
A Problem of Population
If human beings did not die t he ear th woul d s ooner
or later be ov er cr owded with t he pr og eny of j ust one
coupl e. If deat h did not hi nder t he g r owt h of huma n
life, within a scor e of years or s o our cont i nent s woul d
be t eami ng with millions of peopl e f ighting each ot her
f or living space.
Let us take f or ins tance t he case of t wo coupl es
today . Suppos i ng each of these coupl e,give bir th t o 4
chil dr en and t he eight chil dr en in t ur n f or m 4 coupl es
and each coupl e in t ur n give bir th t o 4 chil dr en, and
t hos e 16 chil dr en again f or m eight coupl es and give
bir th t o 4 childr en each and so on, can y ou tell ex actly
the number of pr og eny t he t wo initial coupl es woul d
have af ter 10 g ener at i ons ?
161
A Mule and a Donkey Eating Wheat
T his f ollowing pr obl em is s uppos ed t o hav e been
given by Eucl id in his lectur es in A l ex andr i a about 280
B. C.
A mul e and donkey wer e g oing t o t he mar ket l aden
71
with wheat. T he mul e said "if y ou give me one
meas ur e, I s houl d car r y twice as much as y ou, but if I
give y ou one, we s houl d have equal bur dens . "
Wha f wer e their bur dens ?
162
Age of Our Earth
Ca n y ou tell how old is our ear th appr ox i mat el y ?
163
Crossing Circles
Wha t do y ou call t wo circles whi ch cut 'r ight' acr oss
each ot her ?
164
Weight of Sugar
Can y ou tell what is heav ier a cup of l ump sugar or
a cup of powder ed s ug ar ?
165
Find out the Numbers
T he dif f er ence bet ween t wo number s is 54. T hey are
compos ed of t he s ame t wo digits r ever sed. What are
t he number s ?
72
258
Weight and Height
T her e are t wo men. One is tall and t he ot her is a
midget. T he tall man is t wo metr es in height and t he
midget s t ands 1 met r e high. By how much does t he tall
man outweig h t he mi dg et ?
167
Six Rows of Children
24 chil dr en ar e at t endi ng a flag hoisting cer emony .
How can y ou ar r ang e t hem in six r ows with each r ow
compr is ing 5.
168
Magic Star
73
Her e is an eight poi nt ed star.
Ca n y ou fill in t he circles at t he points of inter section
with number s f r om 1 t o 16 so that t he total adds upt o
34 on each side of t he s quar e and 34 at t he ver tices?
169
Switching Problem
Hi g h
Of f
9
L ow
Medi um
Her e is a light switch. Please not e t he or der of the
positions. If t he light is now at medi um and it is
switched 3922 times what will be t he position of the
s wi t ch?
170
A Steamer's Route
A 150 met r e l ong steamer has chang ed its dir ection
t hr oug h 30 degr ees while mov i ng t hr oug h a distance
equal t o twice its own length. Ca n y ou tell t he r adius in
t he circle in whi ch it mov ed?
171
Continue the Sequence
Wha t ar e t he nex t t wo ter ms in the s equence?
1/5, 0, 1, - 2, 9, - 28, 101
74
301
Square of a Natural Number
Ca n y ou name t he s quar e of a natur al number that is
twice the s quar e of s ome other natur al numbe r ?
173
Find Numbers
12 and 21 are numer i cal reversals of each ot her ; so
are the squar es of these number s ; 144 and 441. How
many mor e number s can y ou think of whi ch hav e this
pr oper t y ?
174
Absolute Value
Suppos i ng t he r oot s of a quadr at i c equat i on ar e:
8/5 and - 7/3
Wha t is t he abs ol ut e value of t he coef f icient of t he x
t er m, if t he equat i on is wr itten in s t andar d form.
(ax
2
+ bx + c = 0), and a = 1
175
Water Pipes
A cir cular pipe with an inside di amet er of six feet can
carry a cer tain amount of water
How many cir cular pipes with an inside di amet er of
one inch will be needed t o car r y t he s ame amout of
wat er ?
75
258
Broken Eggs
A boy was car r y ing a basket of eggs. He fell down
and all t he eggs br oke. Whe n he went back home
without any eggs his mot her as ked how many he had
been car r y ing altogether in the basket. He was unabl e
t o r emember .
But he was abl e t o recall that when they wer e
count ed t wo at a t i me one was left, when count ed
thr ee at a t i me one was left, when count ed f our at a
time one was left, when count ed five at a time none
wer e left.
Ca n y ou tell how many eggs wer e br oken.
177
Volume of the New Bottle
If all the di mens i ons of a one litre bottl e ar e doubl-
ed what is the v ol ume of the new bottl e?
178
A Dinner Party
At a di nner par ty every t wo guests us ed a dish of rice
between t hem. Ever y thr ee guests used a dish of dhal
and every f our us ed a dish of meat between t hem.
T her e wer e al tog ether 65 dishes.
How many guests were pr es ent ?
76
258
Triangles in a Star
f igur e?
180
Brothers and Sisters
In the Sar een f amily each daug ht er has t he s ame
number of br other s as she has sisters and each s on has
twice as many sisters as he has br other s. Now can y ou
tell me how many sons and how many daug ht er s do
the Sar een family hav e?
181
Dissection of an Octagon
Her e is an oct ag on
77
258
Can y ou dissect it into 5 sections s o as it can be
r ear r anged t o f or m a squar e.
182
A Problem of Card Game
A s ha and I wer e playing car ds. T he s t ake was 1 P a
g ame. A t t he end I had won thr ee g ames and A s ha had
won thr ee Paises. How many g ames did we pl ay ?
_ _ 183
Squaring the Circle
What is meant by squar ing the cir cles?
184
Building a Play House
Rakes h and Nikhilesh were car r ying pieces of
timber to build a pl ay house. Nikhilesh said t o Rakes h
'Gi v e me one of y our pieces so that we shall bot h be
car r y ing t he s ame number of pieces'.
78
'No' said Rak es h, pr oudl y want i ng t o display his
str eng th 'Gi v e me one of y our s and I shall be car r y ing
twice y our weight'.
Ca n y ou tell how many pieces of t i mber wer e each
Rakes h and Nikhil esh car r y ing ?
185
Missing Letters
Her e is a logical pat t er n:
O. T . T . F. F. S. S. E. N
Wha t are t he nex t ni ne letter s?
186
Selling Eggs
T he egg v endor calls on his first cus t omer and sells
half his eggs and half an egg. T o the s econd cus t omer
he sells half of what he had left and half an egg, and t o
t he thir d cus t omer he sells half of what he had t hen left
and half an egg. By t he way he did not br eak any eggs.
In t he end thr ee eggs wer e r emaining .
How many did he start out wi t h?
187
Guess the Missing Number
Her e is a mul tipl ication
7451 x 3982 = 29 * 69882
One digit is missing f r om t he pr oduct . Ca n y ou f ind
t he missing number wi t hout per f or ming t he multipli-
cation?
79
301
Width of the Human Hair
It is es t i mat ed that t he wi dt h of t he human
hair is i nch
1000
A bout how many hair s pl aced side by side woul d
meas ur e an i nch?
189
Span of Life
Ca n y ou tell how ol d is life on our Ear t h?
190
Consecutive Natural Numbers
T her e ar e t wo consecutiv e nat ur al number s whos e
pr oduct is equal t o t he pr oduct of thr ee cons ecutiv e
natur al number s for ex ampl e (x + 1) = y (y + 1) (y +
2). What ar e t he t wo number s ?
191
Speed of Ships
Wha t is t he s t andar d meas ur ement of t he speed of
s hi ps ?
80
301
Size of a Cherry
T he cher r y is a r ound f ruit with a r ound s t one. If t he
flesh of t he cher r y ar ound t he s t one is as thick as t he
s t one itself, can y ou cal cul ate mentally how much
mor e pul p t han s t one ther e is in t he cher r y ?
193
Stolen Mangoes
T hr ee naug ht y boy s stole s ome mang oes f r om a
g ar den. A s it was late in t he evening, they deci ded t o
divide t he f ruit equally among t hem in t he mor ni ng ,
and went t o sleep.
A t night while t he ot her t wo wer e sleeping, one boy
woke up, tip- toed t o t he bas ket of mang oes , count ed
t hem and ate one. Fr om t he r emai nder he t ook a
pr ecise thir d and went back t o sleep.
Af ter s ome t i me a s econd boy wok e up. He count ed
t he mang oes , ate one, t ook an ex act t hir d of t he
r emaining and went back t o sleep.
A little bef or e s un rise t he thir d boy also wok e up,
ate one, and like t he other t wo boy s t ook a pr ecise
thir d of t he r emai nder in whol e mang oes .
In t he mor ni ng , all t he thr ee boy s went t og et her t o
t he basket of mang oes , count ed t hem. A mong s t t hem
they f ound one whi ch was over r i peal mos t r otten.
T hey thr ew it away . Fr om t he r emai nder they made an
ex act division.
How many mang oes in all did they s t eal ?
81
258
Computing to Infinity
Wha t is t he s um t o inf inity ?
s = 1 + (- 1) + 1 + (- 1) + (- 1) + (- 1) + (- 1) + 1 + ....
195
Factors
Comput e t he number
n(n
2
+ 1) (n
2
- 1)
If n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17.
Whe n 'n' is an integer greater t han 1 what f actor s do
all t he number s pos s es s ?
196
Missing Digit
A thr ee digit number consists of 9,5 and one mor e
number . Whe n these digits are r ever sed and then
s ubt r act ed f r om t he original number t he answer
yielded will be consisting of t he s ame digits ar r ang ed
yet in a dif f erent or der . Wha t is the other dig it?
197
A Jumping Frog
A f rog star ts cl imbing a 30 ft wall. Each hour he
cl imbs 3 ft and slips back 2. How many day s does it
t ake him t o r each t he t op and get out ?
82
301
Vanishing one Rupee
T wo f ar mer 's wives set out t o t he mar ket t o sell
s ome or anges. Each had 30 or ang es f or sale. T he first
sold hers at 2 a r upee and t he ot her at 3 a r upee. Whe n
all t he or ang es wer e sol d t he f or mer had made in all
Rs. 15 and t he latter Rs . 10, a total of Rs . 25.
T he nex t day when they set out for t he mar ket , they
decided t o do business tog ether . S o they pool ed their
six ty or ang es and sol d t hem at t he r ate of 5 f or Rs 2
(T wo a r upee pl us thr ee a r upee).
But when t he or ang es wer e all sold out and they
count ed their taking s, t o their dis may , they f ound t hat
they had only Rs 24 in all. T hey coul d not under s t and
wher e t he ot her one r upee went.
T hey ended up accus i ng each other of hav i ng
appr opr i at ed t he r upee.
Wher e did t he one r upee g o?
199
Add the Numbers
Fi nd t he value of :
cx v i + xm + vi + CCLXV
200
A Three Digital Problem
By using only t he digits 9, 9, 9, can y ou mak e :
a) 1, b) 4, c) 6 ? Y ou can adopt mat hemat i cal
pr ocesses s uch as + , x , J ~ etc.
83
301
Smallest Number
Wha t is t he smallest number whi ch when divided by
10 leaves a r emai nder of 9, when div ided by 9 leaves a
r emai nder of 8, when divided by 8 leaves a r emainder
of 7 and s o on until when divided by 2 leaves a
r emai nder of 1 ?
202
Fast and Slow Running Train
A n ex pr ess tr ain leaves Cal cut t a f or Bombay at t he
s ame t i me as a passenger tr ain leaves Bombay for
Cal cut t a. T he ex pr ess tr avels at t he s peed of 60
kil ometr es per hour and t he slow tr ain at t he r ate of 30
kil ometr es per hour . Whi ch is f ur ther f r om Cal cut t a
when they meet ?
203
Earth and the Sun
Wha t is t he distance between ear th and t he s un?
204
Red Corpuscles
T he cubi c inch of aver age huma n bl ood is said t o
cont ai n eighty t hous and million r ed cor puscl es. If an
aver ag e adul t has 210 cubi c inches bl ood, how many
l ed cor pus cl es ar e ther e in t he body of an adul t ?
84
301
A Global View
Do y ou k now t he sur f ace ar ea of t he globe, count i ng
all cont i nent s and oceans ?
206
Pricc of a Bottle
A bottle and its cor k tog ether cost Rs. 1.10, and t he
bottl e costs R e l mor e t han its cor k. What is t he pr ice
of t he bot t l e?
207
A Special Magic Square
Her e is a mag ic s quar e. Ca n y ou tell what is special
about it?
96 11
89 68
88 69 91 16
61 86 18 99
19 98 66 81
208
A Cipher
Wha t is a 'Ci pher '?
85
301
Piling up Corpuscles
T he r ed cor puscl es in the human body are said t o
have a thickness of .00008 inch. A ppr ox i mat el y how
high woul d all the cor puscl es in an aver age adult's
body be if they coul d be piled on t op of one anot her
wi t hout compr es s i on?
210
A Book Worm's Route
T her e ar e thr ee v ol umes of the s ame book each
thr ee centimetr es thick. T hey ar e kept in shelf side by
side in or der . V ol ume I, II and III. If a book wor m star ts
outs ide the f r ont cover of v ol ume I and eats its way
t hr oug h t o t he outside of t he back cover of v ol ume III,
travelling in a straight line, how f ar does it tr avel ?
211
Share of a Garden
My f r iend owns a small r ose g ar den in Bang al or e.
My sister Lal itha has a shar e of 3/5 of it, and my sister
V as ant ha has twice as much as myself . Wha t f r action
of t he field bel ongs t o me?
212
A Problem of Wearing Shoes
On a cer tain island, 5% of t he 10000 inhabitants are
one legged and half of the other s g o bar ef oot. What is
the least number of shoes needed in t he island?
86
301
A Problem of being Photographed
My f r iend A s ha, Nees ha, V ij ay , Par v een and S eema
and myself , we deci ded t o hav e a g r oup phot o t aken in
t he s t udio. We deci ded t o sit in a r ow. How many i
dif f erent ar r ang ement s can be made of t he or der in
whi ch we coul d hav e s at ?
Af ter t he sitting at t he phot o s t udi o, we all deci ded t o
l unch together in a r es t aur ant .
T he waiter led us t o a r ound table. We had a little bit
of an ar g ument about who s houl d sit nex t t o whom.
How many dif f er ent ar r ang ement s can be made of
t he or der in whi ch we coul d hav e s at ?
214
The Three Integers
Wha t ar e t he t hr ee integer s in ar ithmetic s equence
whos e pr oduct is pr i me?
215
A Bigger Dozen
Six dozen dozen: is it gr eater t han, equal to, or less
t han half a dozen doz e n?
216
Smallest Integer
7! < 10
7
8! < 10
8
Whi ch is t he smallest integer S s o t hat S ! > 1 0
s
87
301
' Match Sticks Game
Her e ar e t hr ee dif f erent f igures made out of 8 mat ch
sticks. T hey ar e all dif f erent in size. Wha t woul d be t he
biggest possibl e f igure y ou can mak e out of these eight
mat ch s t i cks ?
218
Selecting a Candidate
A s chool announced t he openi ng ot t he pos t s for six
teacher s in t he l ocal news paper . 12 per s ons appl ied f or
t he j ob. Ca n y ou tell in how many dif f erent way s this
selection can be ma de ?
88
301
A Batting Problem
A t eam has nine player s. How many possibl e batting
or der s are t her e?
220
Smallest Integer
? M
If the largest of x cons ecutiv e integer s is M, what is
t he smal l est?
221
The Fly and the Molasses
A cylindr ical glass cont ai ner is 20 cent i met r es tall
and has a diameter of 10 centimetr es. On t he inside
wall, thr ee cent i met r es f r om the upper cir cul ar base,
ther e is a dr op of mol asses. On the lateral sur f ace,
diametr ically oppos i t e it, ther e is a fly.
Whi ch is t he shor test r out e for t he fly t o t ake t o
r each the mol as s es ?
222
A Set of Bat and Ball
Ma mmu want ed a bat very badly t o play with her
ball. T he s hopkeeper s howed me a set of bat and ball.
He tol d nie that they woul d together cost me Rs . 3. 75.
But I did not need t he ball as Ma mmu had one alr eady .
89
T hen he said that t he bat woul d cost me 75 Paise mor e
t han t he ball.
Wha i was t he cost of the bat and t he bal l ?
223
Edges of a Pencil
How many edges has a hex ag onal penci l ?
224
The 'Lattice' Method
4 5 1
2
8
3 / /
5
o
7
2
/ / 4
3 / /
3
0 / /
6
1 / /
2
1
K
5
0
3
1 1 3
T his is t he mul tipl ication of t he number s 451 x 763.
T he 'Lattice' met hod has been us ed.
Ca n y ou f ind t he pr oduct and the me t hod?
225
The Television Tower
Bombay has a hig h television tower . Suppos i ng y ou
do not k now t he height, but y ou have a phot og r aph of
90
t he tower , is ther e any way in whi ch y ou can f ind t he
real height of t he t ower ?
226
Football Game
In or der t o ens ur e that one f or ecast is cor r ect , how
many dif f erent f or ecasts mus t be made of 5 f ootball
g ames ?
227
Factorials
T her e ar e many f actorials that can be ex pr essed as
the pr oduct of t wo or mor e other f actor ials. T o give
y ou an ex ampl e:
7! x 6! = 10!
How many other s can y ou f i nd? '
228
Open Pantograph
What is t he geometr ical s hape associated with an
open pant og r aph?
229
A Chess Board
A r egular chess boar d has 8 by 8 s quar es . How
many individual r ectangles can y ou identif y ?
91
301
Rising Tide
T he s hi p was sailing. T he tide was rising at t he r ate of
16 inches per hour . Four r ungs wer e alr eady bel ow t he
water . Each r ung was V/
2
inches thick and ther e was a
g ap of eight inches between r ungs.
Af ter five and one half hour s later how many r ung s
of t he l adder woul d hav e been s ubmer g ed?
231
The Weight of a Pan
T wo pans ar e similar in shape. T hey ar e al so of t he
s ame thicknes s . Howev er one of t hem is eight times
mor e capaci ous t han t he other .
Ca n y ou tell how heavier is the bigger one t han t he
ot her ?
232
A Boat Race
T he y acht cl ub recently held a boat r ace. T he
captain had s ome difficulty deciding the or der of
rowing in t he boat f or his cr ew.
3 of his cr ew wer e str okeside oar s men only and 2 of
t hem wer e bow side oar s men only . Wei g ht s and
per sonal pr ef er ences were not i mpor t ant really.
In how many way s t he captain coul d have ar r ang ed
his eight men t o f or m the cr ew?
92
301
Giving Away Five Billion Rupees
Suppos i ng y ou had five billion r upees and y ou gave
away a Rs . 500 not e every mi nut e, how l ong woul d it
t ake y ou t o give away all y our money ?
234
Two Excellent Mnemonics
'T o disr upt a pl ay r oom is commonl y a pr actise of
childr en'
A ND
'It enabl es a nums kul l t o memor i ze quality of
numer al s !
T hese t wo pieces of mnemoni cs signify a cer tain
mat hemat i cal t er m t o 9 places of decimal s.
Wha t is t he t er m?
235
A Problem of Flies
T he common fly is consider ed an appallingly prolif ic
insect. Each f emale fly is capabl e of laying 120 eggs at a
time. Out of t he eggs hat ched, half of t hem ar e
generally f emales.
T he f emale flies hat ched gr ow suf f iciently within 20
day s t o lay eggs themselves.
A s s umi ng that the f emale fly lays her first eggs on
the 1st of Apr il , can y ou tell how many eggs will be
hat ched in the cour s e of that s ummer , in t he seventh
gener ation.
93
301
Height of a Palm Tree
A pal m tr ee was 90 cm high, when it was pl anted.
It grows by an equal number of cms each y ear ,and at
the end of t he seventh year it was one ninth taller t han
at the end of t he six th year. Ca n y ou tell how tall was
the tree at t he end of the twelf th y ear ?
237
Make a Series
What are t he nex t t hr ee't er ms t o t he ser ies:
1 + 3 + 7 + 15 + 31 + 63 +
238
Around the Equator
Suppos i ng one decides t o walk ar ound the ear th on
the equat or , the t op of the per son's head woul d
descr ibe a circle whos e cir cumf er ence woul d be longer
t han t he circle descr ibed by his f eet.
How gr eat do y ou think the dif f erence woul d be?
239
Intersecting Squares
T her e are t wo squar es. One is large and the other
one is small. T he large squar e has a side of 17 units and
the smaller s quar e has a side of 15 units with its vertex
at the centr e of t he large squar e, and inter sects t he
side of t he large s quar e 3]/
2
units f r om the ver tex .
What is t he ar ea of the s haded over l apping r eg i on?
94
301
Weight of Diamonds
Wha t is t he meas ur e us ed t o weig h di amonds ?
241
Meaning of the Term
What does t he t er m 'Cas t i ng out t he nines ' ref er t o?
242
Make a Sequence
What ar e t he nex t t wo ter ms of t he s equence?
1, 1, 5, 17, 61, 217
243
Natural Numbers
Us i ng the numer al 4 j ust f our times only combi ni ng it
with any mat hemat i cal sy mbol s + , - , x , ,-J~
Ca n y ou f or m each of these natur al number s 1 , 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.
244
The Spoilt Holiday
A g r oup of f riends and myself went on a hol iday t o a
hill station. It r ained for 13 day s. But when it r ained in
t he mor ni ng t he af t er noon was lovely. A nd when it
95
r ained in t he af t er noon t he day was pr eceded by a
clear mor ni ng .
Al t og et her t her e wer e 11 very nice mor ni ng s and 12
very nice af t er noons . How many day s di d our holiday
l ast?
I love t o mix dr inks. Whe n I hav e one glass
or ang eade and one glass l emonade each glass
cont ains t he s ame amount . I t ake 2 ounces full of t he
or ang eade and mix it with t he l emonade, and t hen I
t ake 2 ounces full of this mi x t ur e and put it back in t he
or ang eade. Wha t do y ou t hi nk of t he r esulting
mi x t ur e?
Do y ou t hi nk ther e is mor e or ang eade in t he
l emonade or mor e l emonade in t he or ang eade?
245
A Problem of Drinks
246
A Simple Problem
Si mpl i f y :
247
Googolplex
How much is a g oog ol pl ex ?
96
301
Tell the Time
Can y ou tell at what time bet ween 7 and 8 O'cl ock ,
the t wo hands of a cl ock, will be in a str aight l ine?
249
Name of the Line
Wha t is t he name of t he line r ef er r ed t o when y ou
say
'Cut a circle in t wo poi nt s '?
250
A Cardioid
Wha t is a car di oi d?
251
A Problem of Age
T oday was L aks hmi 's bi r t hday . S he t ur ned 24.
L aks hmi is twice as old as Ra mu was when L aks hmi
was as ol d as Ra mu now. How old is Ramu now?
252
The Common Name
Wha t is t he c ommon name for a r egular
hex ahedr on?
97
301
Name the Circle
Ca n y ou name t he circle whi ch is impl ied by 'T he
circle whi ch t ouches all sides of a pol y g on'.
254
Find out the Value
Ca n y ou tell t he value of t he f ollowing:
Si n 45 = Cot 45 =
Cos 45 = Sec 45 =
T an 45 = Cs c 45 =
255
Alter the Numbers
Her e is a circle with mar k ed number s . Ca n y ou alter
the number s s o t hat t he s um of any t wo adj acent
number s is equal t o t he s um of t he pair of number s at
the ot her ends of t he diameter s.
98
258
256
Climbing Problem of Creepers
T wo cr eeper s, one j as mi ne and t he other r ose, ar e
bot h cl imbing up and r ound a cylindr ical tr ee t r unk.
T he j as mine twists cl ockwise and t he r ose anti-
cl ockwise, and they bot h start at t he s ame poi nt on t he
g r ound. Bef or e they r each the first br anch on the tr ee
t he j as mine has made 5 compl et e twists and t he r ose 3
twists. Not count i ng t he bot t om and t he t op, how
many times do they cr os s ?
257
Throwing the Dice
We hav e t wo dice one r ed and one bl ack. In how
many dif f erent way s can they be t hr own?
99
301
Algebraic Language
Ca n y ou chang e t he f ollowing statement i nt o
algebr aic l ang uag e?
'A cer tain number is equal t o twice anot her number
di mi ni s hed by 5'.
259
Complaints about the Excursion
Our g r oup consisted of 400 when we went on an
over seas ex cur s ion. On our r et ur n we wer e as ked if
we had any compl ai nt s t o mak e. 240 had no
compl ai nt s at all. A mong s t rest 60 compl ai ned about
the delay s ever y wher e, 3 compl ai ned about t he delay s,
f ood, and lack of facilities, 11 about f ood and lack of
f acilities, 8 about delays and f ood, and 7 about delay s
and l ack of facilities. A n equal number compl ai ned
about either l ack of facilities or f ood onl y .
How can y ou r epr esent these f igures on a v enn
di ag r am and cal cul ate t he number of per sons who
compl ai ned about t he f ood onl y ?
260
Insert Numbers in Circles
Ca n y ou ar r ang e the number s 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ,
10,11 and 12 in t he twelve circles of their f igure s o t hat
t he s um of t he thr ee number s on each of t he six sides is
the s ame, and t he thr ee circles connect ed by single line
100
and t he t wo circles connect ed by t he doubl e line al so
give t he s ame s um?
261
One Word Answer
Ca n y ou tell in one wor d t he name o f t he f ollowing
suf f ix ?
'T he medi ans of a tr iangle hav e this poi nt in
common'.
262
Simpson's Rule
T o what us e is Si mps on's r ul e put ? "
263
Sound of a Striking Axe
S ound is said t o tr avel in air at about 1100 feet per
101
s econd. A man hear s t he ax e strike t he tree 11/5
s econds af ter he sees it strike t he tree. How far woul d
y ou say t he man is f r om t he wood chopper ?
264
Name of the Solid
Wha t is t he name of t he solid f or med by cutting a
py r ami d or a cone by t wo parallel lines.
265
Name of the Line
Wha t is t he name of the line t hat j oins all the points
of t he s ame latitude on t he ear t h?
266
A Problem of Eggs
A f ar mer has six baskets full of chi cken and duck
eggs he is t aki ng t o t he mar ket t o sell. Bas ket A has 29
eggs, bas ket B has 14 eggs, basket C has 23 eggs,
bas ket D has 6 eggs, basket E has 5 eggs and basket F
has 12 eggs.
T he f ar mer points t o a par ticul ar basket and says 'If I
sell all t he eggs in this basket, I shall have twice as many
chi cken eggs left as duck eggs.'
Whi ch was the basket he was poi nt i ng at ?
267
Value of K
If K = a- b
a b
what is the val ue of K when a = - 1 and
b = - 2?
102
301
Honey Comb
What par ticul ar geometr ical s hape do y ou associate
with t he cell in a honey comb.
269
Sides of a Triangle
T he sides of a r ight- angled tr iangle hav e a l eng th of
an ex act number of m. Suppos i ng t he per pendi cul ar is
9m long and the hy pot onus e is l m l onger t han t he
base, what is t he length of the s i des ?
270
Name the Triangle
What is t he name of t he tr iangle f or med by j oining
the f acet of t he per pendicul ar s f r om t he ver tices of a
triangle t o t he oppos i t e side?
271
Playing Chess
A chess boar d has 64 squar es. In how many dif f erent
positions can y ou ar r ang e t wo dr aug ht s on t he boar d?
272
Rows of Numerals
Name t he tr iangle which does not have thr ee lines
for sides but only r ows of numer al s .
103
273
Count the Faccs
Ca n y ou tell how many f aces does a stellated
Dodecahedr on hav e?
274
Problem of a Handbag
I f ound a very nice handbag in t he s hop tha
+
I
t houg ht I s houl d simply mus t have. T he pr ice was
Rs. 10. But I did not hav e the Rs . 10.
T he s tor ekeeper was known t o me. He said that he
had a credit system by which I coul d pay Re. 1 only at t he
time of pur chas e and the bal ance Rs l O coul d be pai d
by me at t he r ate of Re 1 per week for 10 weeks.
Ca n y ou tell what annual r ate of interest t he
stor ekeeper was char g ing me ?
275
A Broken Gold Chain
A g ol ds mit h was given a chain t o be r epair ed. T he
chain was tor n into five equal sections of thr ee links
each.
T he g ol ds mit h beg an t o wonder how many links he
woul d hav e t o open up and then solder . Af ter s ome
t hi nki ng he decided that it woul d be f our .
Wha t do y ou t hi nk ? Coul d he have done this j ob
with openi ng up a f ewer links and t hen s ol der ed?
276
Quick Descent
Wha t does t he cur v e of qui ck descent refer t o?
104
301
Square Number
Ca n y ou pr ov e that t he s um of t wo adj acent
tr iangular number s is a s quar e number .
278
A Series of Numbers
Ca n y ou wr ite 10 number s f r om least t o greatest
whi ch have a r emai nder of 3 af ter division by 7. What
ki nd of series is f or med and what is t he c ommon
dif f er ence?
279
Length of the Strif)
Wha t is t he l eng th of t he str ip of all millimetr e
squar es in one s quar e metr e, if pl aced one al ong side
t he ot her ?
Y ou mus t cal cul ate mentally .
280
Moving a Safe
A heavy saf e is t o be mov ed. T wo cy lindr ical steel
bar s of di amet er 7 centimetr es ar e us ed as rollers.
Whe n t he rollers hav e made one r ev ol ut ion, how f ar
will t he saf e hav e mov ed f or war d?
105
301
. Filling Wine in Barrels
A f r iend of mi ne in L ondon has a very nice cellar. He
has t wo large barrels in t he cellar. T he larger barrel is
mostl y empt y . But the smaller bar r el is only 5/6th full of
wine while it can hol d 536 litres.
Suppos i ng he empties t he smaller bar r el and fills t he
bigger bar r el t o f ind that the wine fills only 4/9ths of it,
how much wine woul d t he larger barrel hol d when full ?
282
A Standing Tripod
Why is it t hat a tr ipod s t ands f irmly, even when its
thr ee legs ar e of dif f erent l eng t h?
283
Women at Club Socials
Wome n out number ed men by 16 at a cl ub social.
Somet i mes t he number of women ex ceeds nine times
the number of men by 32. Wha t was t he number of
men and women at the cl ub?
284
Constellation Pegasus
Wha t par ticul ar geometr ical s hape is associated
with Cons t el l at i on Peg as us ?
106
301
A Game of Billiards
Rajiv, Sanj iv and Vijay wer e pl ay ing a g ame of
billiards. Rajiv can give Sanjiv 10 poi nt s in 50, and Sanj iv
can give Vijay 10 points in 50. How many points in 50
mus t Rajiv give Sanj iv to make an even g ame?
286
Finding a Way
B
-
A
Her e is t he pl an of an estate. It has been divided i nt o
s quar e lots.T her e are many way s a per s on can t ake t o
r each f r om point A t o point B. Ca n y ou tell how many
dif f erent way s of t he s ame length are ther e for a per s on
t o t ak e?
107
301
Playing a Rccord
A g r amophone r ecor d has a diameter of 30.5
centimetr es. T he centr e is unus ed and has a diameter
of 10 centimetr es. T her e is also a s moot h outer edge
1.25 centimetr es wide ar ound the r ecor ding.
If the gr ooves are 36 to the centimetr e, how far does
the needl e mov e dur ing the actual playing of the
r ecor d?
288
Greatest and the Least
Ca n y ou name the greatest and the least of t he
f ol l owing?
log(2 + 4), (log 2 + log 4), log (6 - 3) and (log 6 - log 3).
289
Sum of Odd Numbers
Fi nd the s um of the first 70 odd number s .
290
Length of a Train
A tr ain is travelling at the speed of 96 kilometr es per
hour . It takes 3 seconds t o enter a tunnel and 30
s econds mor e t o pass t hr oug h it completely . What is
the l eng th of t he train and the t unnel ?
108
291
Planting Trees
If y ou wished t o pl ant s ome tr ees so t hat each was
equidistant f r om every other tr ee, what is t he largest
number y ou coul d pl ant ?
292
Name of a Sieve
What is 'T he Sieve of Er as t os t henes '?
293
Segments and Dots
Her e are s ome dotted points. Ga n y ou dr aw f our
s eg ments wit hout lifting y our pencil off the paper in
s uch a way that each of the poi nt s is at least one of the
s eg ment s ?
o o o
o o o
o o o
294
Value of the Series
T ake a g ood look at the f ollowing ser ies:
+
+ _ I +
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15
109
Fi nd t he values of t he series and multiply the answer
by 4. Y ou will notice t hat a wel l - known val ue
appr ox i mat es this pr oduct . Ev en mor e inter esting is
t hat as y ou add mor e t er ms the appr ox i mat i on
becomes closer.
295
Name of the Exchange
In Gr eat Br itain s ome y ear s back t he first thr ee
letter s of a t el ephone number us ed t o indicate t he
name of t he ex chang e. How many s uch ar r ang ement s
of 3 letter s is it possible t o devise f r om the 26 letters of
t he al phabet ?
296
Filling a Cistern
Pi pe S can fill cistern in 2 hour s and pipe K can fill a
cister n in 3 hour s . Pipe Y can empt y it in 5 hour s .
Suppos i ng all t he pipes ar e t ur ned on when the cistern
is compl etel y empt y , how l ong will it t ak e t o fill?
297
A Thirst Problem
Raj iv and Sanj iv went campi ng . T hey t ook their own
water in big plastic bottles.
Raj iv g ot thirsty and dr ank half t he water in his
bottle. A little later on he dr ank 1/3 of what was left.
S ome t i me af ter war ds he dr ank 1/4 of what r emained
and so on.
Sanj iv al so had a bottle of t he s ame size. He dr ank
110
half t he bottl e at t he first i ns t ance, half of what
r emai ned when he dr ank nex t and s o on.
Af ter each t ook ten dr inks , t he water Rajiv had left
was how many times greater t han t he water Sanj iv had
lef t?
298
Snapping a Plane
A pl ane has a s pan of 12 metr es, ft was
phot og r aphed as it was flying directly ov er head with a
camer a with a dept h of 12 cm.
In t he phot o the s pan of the pl ane was 8 mm.
Ca n y ou tell how high was t he pl ane when it was
s napped?
299
A Running Race
Raj iv, Sanj iv and Vijay j oin a r unni ng r ace. T he
dis tance is 1500 metr es. Rajiv beat s Sanj iv by 30
metr es and Vijay by 100 metr es. By how much coul d
Sanj iv beat Vijay over t he full distance if they bot h r an
as bef or e?
300
An Election Problem
My cl ub had a pr obl em r ecently . T hey had t o
appoint a Secr etar y f r om among t he men and a J oi nt
Secr etar y f r om among the women.
We hav e a member s hi p of 12 men and 10 women. In
how many way s can the selection be ma de ?
I l l
301

Flying Around
T his happened in the Heat hr ow air por t, L ondon. I
had j ust missed a flight. S o I deci ded t o kill s ome t i me in
t he Caf et ar ia until my nex t flight was r eady .
A man wal ked in and as ked my per mission to j oin
me at my table.
Si ppi ng cof f ee we beg an t o chat . He tol d me he was a
commer ci al pilot and in the cour s e of his wor k he has
f lown all over the wor ld. I also g ather ed that he was a
Rus s i an. He posed this very inter esting puzzl e t o me :
'One fine day I just decided to fly ar oundno f ix ed
des t i nat i onj us t fly ar ound. I t ook away f r om
Leni ng r ad in a nor ther ly dir ection. I flew continuousl y
f or five hundr ed kilometr es. T hen I t ur ned my
dir ection. I flew eastwar d 500 kilometr es. I t ur ned
dir ection again I t ur ned s out h and cover ed another 500
kil ometr es. Now again I t ur ned my dir ection. I flew 500
kil ometr es in the westerly dir ection and l anded. Ca n
y ou tell me wher e did I l and? Wes t , East, Sout h or
Nor t h of L eni ng r ad? '
' Oh well' I said quickly 'Leni ng r ad, natur ally'.
'No' he said.
'Wher e else woul d y ou possibly l and? 500
kil ometr es nor t h, 500 kil ometr es east, 500 kilometr es
s out h and 500 kilometr es west. Y ou are ex actly wher e
y ou star ted f r om'.
'Not at all' he said.
'I don't under s t and! '
'1 actually l anded in L ake Ladog a'.
'Real l y ! How coul d that be'.
He ex pl ained to me in detail and also dr ew a sketch
t o illustrate how he coul d not have possibly l anded
back in Lening r ad.
Wha t do y ou think his ex pl anation was ?
112
Solutions
I
L et us a s s ume t hat or i g i nal l y Me e na ha d X
r upe e s a nd Y 20 pai s e coi ns . G o i n g s ho ppi ng
s he ha d ( 1 0 0 X + 20 Y ) pai s e
S he r e t ur ne d wi t h onl y (1 00 Y + 20 X ) paise.
T hi s l ast s um, as we k now , is one- t hi r d of t he
or i g i nal a nd t her ef or e
3(1 00 Y + 20 X ) = 100 X + 20 Y
S i mpl i f y i ng we hav e X = 7 Y
I f Y is 1 t he n X is 7. A s s umi ng t hi s s o Me e na ha d
7.20 r upe e s w he n s he set out f or s hoppi ng .
T hi s is w r ong be c a us e Me e na act ual l y ha d
about 15 r upe e s .
Let us s ee now what we get if Y = 2. T he n X = 14.
T he or i g i nal s um was 14.40 r upe e s w hi c h
a ccor ds wi t h t he c ondi t i on of t he pr obl e m.
If we a s s ume t hat Y = 3 t he n t he s um wil l be t oo
bi g 21 . 60 r upe e s .
T her ef or e t he onl y s ui t abl e ans we r is 14.40
r upees . <
A f t er s ho ppi ng Me e na ha d 2 one r upe e not e s
a nd 14 t went y Pai s e coi ns .
T hi s is act ual l y l /3 r d of t he or i g i nal s um
1 , 440: 3 = 480.
Me e na 's pur chas e s , t her ef or e, cos t
14.40 4.80 = Rs . 9. 60
2
T her e is not hi ng t o ex pl ain here. T he dr iv ing t i me
t her e a nd ba ck is abs ol ut el y t he s a me be c a us e
90 mi nut e s a nd 1 hour a nd 30 mi nut e s ar e one a nd
t he s a me t hi ng .
T hi s pr obl e m is me ant f or i nat t ent i v e r eader s
w ho ma y t hi nk t hat t her e is s o me di f f er ence
bet ween 90 mi nut e s a nd 1 hour 30 mi nut e s .
113
3
T he s mal l es t i nt eg er t hat can be wr itten with t wo
di g i t s is not 10 as o ne ma y a s s ume . But it is
e x pr e s s e d as f ol l ows :
J LJ L- L A .
e t c u
P
t o
2
1 2 3 4 9
4
It is v er y eas y t o a ns we r t hi s que s t i on.
We c a n f i nd t he numbe r of t i me s al l t he f ive
g r oups met on one a nd t he s a me day i n t he f irst
quar t er t he Ne w Y e ar 's e x c l ude d by f i ndi ng
t he l eas t c o mmo n mul t i pl e of 2, 3, 4, 5 a nd 6. T hi s
i s n't di f f i cul t . It is 60.
T her ef or e, t he f ive wil l al l meet ag ai n on t he 61st
day .
T he l i t er ar y g r oup wi l l meet af ter 30 t wo- day
i nt e r v a l s , t he Dr a ma t i c af t er 20 t hr e e - day
i nt er v al s , t he Mus i c a l af t er 15 f our - day i nt er v al s ,
t he Da nc i ng af t er 12 f iv e- day i nt er v al s , a nd t he
P a i nt i ng af t er 10 s ix - day i nt er v al s .
In ot her wor ds , t hey c a n meet on t he one a nd
s a me day onl y onc e i n 60 day s . A n d s i nce t her e
ar e 9 0 da y s i n t he f irst quar t er , it me a ns t her e c a n
onl y be one ot her day on w hi c h t hey al l meet .
No w c o mi ng t o t he s e c ond que s t i on, t hi s is
pos i t i v el y mor e di f f i cul t t o f i nd t he ans wer . Ho w
ma ny da y s ar e t her e w he n none of t he g r oups
me e t s i n t he f irst quar t e r ?
T o f i nd t he ans wer t o t hi s , it is neces s ar y t o wr i t e
do w n al l t he numbe r s f r om 1 t o 90 a nd t he n s t r i ke
out al l t he day s w he n t he l i t er ar y g r oup meet s
f or e x a mpl e t he 1st, 3r d, 5 t h, 7th, 9 t h etc.
T he n we mus t cr os s out t he Dr a ma t i c G r o up
day s f or e x a mpl e 4t h, 7t h, 10th et c.
T hi s wa y we mus t cr os s out t he day s of t he
mus i ca l , da nc i ng a nd pa i nt i ng g r oups al s o. T he n
114
t he numbe r s t ha t r e ma i n ar e t he da y s w he n no ne
of t he g r oups meet .
Whe n we do t hat we wi l l f i nd t hat t he r e ar e 24
s uc h da y s ei g ht i n J a nua r y (2. 8. 12. 14. 18. 20.
24 a nd 30), s ev en i n Fe br uar y a nd ni ne i n Ma r c h.
5
Pe opl e of t en t hi nk of t he numbe r 1111 as
t he bi g g e s t numbe r t hat c a n be wr i t t en wi t h
f our l 's . B ut t her e is a numbe r ma ny , ma ny t i me s
g r eat er t ha n t hi s numbe r , namel y : l l
u
1 1 " = 285311670611
A s y ou can see l l
1 1
is al mos t 250 mi l l i on t i mes
g r eat er t ha n 1111.
6
68 r e g i ons . E a c h ne w t a ng e nt i ncr eas es t he
non- e nc l os e d ar eas by t wo.
7
T hi s pr obl e m c a n be s ol v ed onl y by appl i -
cat i on of al g ebr a. S uppo s i ng w e t a k e X f or
t he y ear s , t he a g e t hr ee y ear s he nc e wi l l b e X + 3
a nd t he a g e t hr ee y ear s a g o X - 3.
No w we hav e t he e qua t i on 3(X + 3) - 3(X - 3) = X
Whe n we s ol v e t hi s , we obt a i n : 18. T he gir l is 18
y ear s ol d.
T o c he c k t hi s : T hr e e y ear s he nc e s he wi l l be 21
a nd t hr ee y ear s a g o s he was 15.
A n d t he di f f er ence is: (3 x 21 ) - (3 x 15) = 6 3 - 4 5
= 18
8
S i nc e a = b, a - b = 0. He nc e di v i s i on by
zer o.
- 1 1
g (1/8) -2/ 3 =( (V2)
3
) - Hz = 0/ 2) -
2
= Vh)
2
= = 4
115
/V T her e are many way s of s ol v i ng this pr obl em
X v l w i t ho ut e quat i ons .
Her,e is one way :
In f iv e mi nut e s t he s on cov er s % of t he way a nd
t he f at her 76 i.e. V
4
V
6 =
V
12
'
e s s
t han the s on.
S i nc e the f ather was
x
/t of the way ahead of t he
s on, the s on woul d cat ch up with him af ter 7 ^
4
/i
2
=
2 f ive mi nut e i nt er v al s , or 10 mi nut e s .
T her e is one ot her way of do i ng t hi s cal cul at i on
w hi c h is ev en s i mpl er :
T o get t o wor k t he f at her ne e ds 10 mi nut e s mor e
t ha n t he s on. If he wer e t o l eav e ho me 10 mi nut e s
ear l i er , t hey w oul d bot h ar r iv e at wor k at t he s a me
t i me. If t he f at her wer e t o l eav e onl y f ive mi nut e s
ear l i er , t he s on woul d ov e r haul hi m hal f way t o
wor k i.e. 10 mi nut e s l ater , s i nce it t ak es hi m 20
mi nut e s t o cov er t he whol e di s t ance.
^ O n e c a n t hi nk of at l eas t 9 e x ampl e s :
39 x 186 =
7254
18 x 297 =
5346
28 x 157 = 4396
42 x 138
=
5796
12 x 483
= 5796
48 x 159 =
7632
4 x 1738 6952
27 x 198
-
5346
4 x 1963 7852
If y ou tr y pat i ent l y , pe r ha ps y ou ma y c ome up
wi t h s ome mor e.
1 2 ( 2 f = 28; H ^L l I L = 28; = 28;
2 2
n
2
- n - 56 = 0; n =8. T her e wer e al t og et her 8 g ues t s
pr es ent at t he g et - t og et her .
116
O W e l l one woul d al way s t hi nk t hat t he s mal l
X O c o g whe e l wil l r ot at e t hr ee t i mes . But t hi s
is a mi s t ak e. It is act ual l y f our t i mes .
In or der t o c onv i nc e y our s el f of t hi s f act , t ak e a
s heet of pape r a nd pl ace on it t wo e qua l s i z ed
coi ns . T he n hol di ng t he l ower one t i g ht i n its
pl ace, r ol l t he uppe r coi n a r ound it. Y o u will f i nd
out t o y our s ur pr i s e t hat by t he t i me t he uppe r coi n
r e ache s t he bot t om of t he l ower one it will hav e
f ul l y r ot at e d on its ax is . A nd w he n it has done a
c ompl e t e ci r cl e a r ound t he l ower coi n, it wil l hav e
r ot at ed t wi ce.
S pe a k i ng i n g ener al , w he n a body r ot at es r o und
a ci r cl e, it al way s does one r ev ol ut i on mor e t ha n
one ca n count . It is pr eci s el y t hi s t hat ex pl ai ns
why t he e a r t hr e v ol v i ng r oundt he s un s uc c e e ds i n
r ot at i ng on its ax i s not i n 365 % day s but in 366%
day s . If one c ount s i t s r e v ol ut i ons i nr e s pe c t t ot he
s t ar s a nd not t he s un, y ou wil l unde r s t a nd now,
why s i der eal day s ar e s hor t er t ha n ol ar day s .
14
15
01 2345 678 9
He at e 26 i dl i s on t he f our t h day .
Day No. Eaten
1st day X
2nd day X + 6
3r d day x + 12
4t h day x + 18
5t h day x + 24
Total
5x + 60 = 100; x = 8; 8 + 18 = 26
117
16
7 2 3 10
4 5 6
8 9
1
y
2
.This pr obl em can be wor ked by simul-
X / t aneous equat i ons , but the sol ution s hown
bel ow is a mor e clever, mor e intuitive appr oach.
a b
a + b
~ a E
-
10
20 2
O T h e N col umn is t he mos t restrictive col umn
A O since it has only f our open choices, ins tead
of t he five usual choices. T hes e f our choices mus t be
made f r om t he set (31, 32, 33 43, 44, 45) whi ch
cont ai n f if teen elements. T hus when we hav e made all
possible selections of 4 number s f r om 15 number s , we
will hav e r eached the total possibl e number of dif f erent
Bi ng o car ds.
, 15 15 x 14 x 13 x 12
( ) = = 1365
4 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 =
19
888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000
Compl et e answer t o Ques t i on 19
+
8
1) - J L L ? ( 8 x 8 x 8 - 8 ) - 8 = 1000
2)
8888 - 888 _ i 000
8
118
3) (
8 8
-
8
) ( 8 + A l l ) = 1000
4) ( 8 + - l l
8
- ) ( 8 + A l l ) = 1000
5) 8 ( 8 x 8 + 8 x 8 ) - 8 - 8 - 8
6)
8 ( 8 + 8 ) - ( l l l - l _
8
i ^
8
8
Us i ng t he f actor ial signs we hav e:
8 !
7)
8( 8 -
- 8
8 + 8 + 8 ,
8 '
1000
1000
= 1000
8) 8! -
8
- A 8
8(88 - 8)
1000
119
2 Q There are 47 different triangles
I am s howi ng bel ow t he possible sol utions.
T he i mpor t ant thing to r emember about the
pr obl em is t hat P mus t be less t han f our or it woul d be
possible to mak e chang e f or one r upee:
A s ha
or
Ni s ha
I P 5P 10P 25P 50P
A s ha
or
Ni s ha
4 0 4
3 0
A s ha
or
4 0
9
1 0
Ni s ha
S = 112 + 126 + 994
S = 14 (8 + 9 + 71)
120
S = 14 (8 + 71) (71 - 8 + 1)
2
S = 7(79) (64) = 35392
14 Squar es
24
25
13
4 y
4 m
6%
9% 10%
8
m
5'A
Let n
ttf e n
2
= 12 + n
n* - n - 12 = 0
(n - 4) (n + 3 ) = 0
n = - 3 or 4 S o n - 4 Si nce ex pr ession is
pr incipal s q. r oot
T he hair t hat falls last is t he one that
is t he y oung est t oday i.e. t he one that is
only one day ol d.
Let us now cal cul ate how l ong it will t ake bef or e t he
last hair falls.
121
In t he first mont h a man s heds 3000 hair s out of
150,000 he has on his head.
In t he first t wo mont hs 6000.
A nd i n't he first year 3000 x 12 = 36000
T her ef or e it will t ake a little over f our years f or t he
last hair t o fall.
It is in this way that we hav e det er mi ned t he aver age
age of human hair .
1 11
( _L + i )io = = 2.5937424601
10 10
10
T his is a mul tipl ication mag ic squar e. T he
pr oduct of each set of thr ee number s in
any col umn or r ow is the cons t ant 120.
If t he s on is x y ear s ol d, t hen t he f ather
is 2x years old. Eig hteen years ag o they
wer e bot h eighteen years y oung er .
T he f ather was 2x - 18 and t he s on x - 18.
We k now that t hen t he f ather was thr ee times as ol d
as t he s on:
3(x - 18) = 2x - 18
Whe n we solve this equat i on, we will f ind t hat x =36.
T he s on is 36 and t he f ather 72.
4 x 21978 = 87912. T he number is reversed
49
If ins tead of a sar i, handbag and shoes if I
had boug ht only t wo pair s of shoes, I woul d
122
hav e had t o pay not 140 r upees but as many times less
as" t he s hoes are cheaper t han t he sari and t he
handbag , i.e. 120 r upees less. Cons equent l y , t he t wo
pair s of shoes woul d have cost 140 - 120 = 20 r upees.
Hence one pair costs 10 r upees.
Now we k now that the sari and t he handbag
together cost 140 - 1 0 = 130 r upees. We al so k now that
the sari is Rs.90/- mor e ex pensive t han the handbag .
Now let us use t he s ame r eas oning again. Ha d I boug ht
t wo handbag s instead of a sari and a handbag , I woul d
hav e had t o pay not Rs.130/- but Rs.90/- less.
T her ef or e t wo handbag s cost 130 - 90 = 40 r upees.
A nd one handbag costs 20 r upees.
Now we k now ex actly how much each article cos t :
Shoes Rs. 10/- Handbag Rs. 20/- Sari Rs. 110/- Rs. 140/-
in all.
T he r ule of thr ee means pr opor t i on.
In t he wor ds if thr ee number s ar e given
when f our number s are in pr opor t i on, this is a met hod
of f inding one of t hem.
35
m
B
ro
(23)"
23m
3
m
m
= 5/3
= 32
= 2
5
= 2
5
= 5
= 5/3
36
37
14 14 14 14 14
(1) + (2) + (3) + (4) + ... ( 1 4) = 2
14
- 1=16383
142857 '
123
21 27_1 =
170 1411 83460469231731687303715884 105 727
39"
X - 1
n = 1+ 0+ 0+ 0+ 0+ + 0+ 0+
n + 1
= ( -
4 )
4 .
i ) + ( i
3 3
(-
n + 1
)
1 n
n + 1 n + 1
A /Y T he early Romans bef or e J ul ius Caesar f r om
T "\ /w hom our calendar comes f r om began the year
in Mar ch. T her ef or e December was the tenth mont h.
Howev er , when New Y ear was mov ed t o J anuar y 1,
the names of the mont hs wer e not shif ted, which
caus ed t he disparity between the meaning of the
names of cer tain mont hs and their s equence:
Her e is an ex ampl e:
Months
Meaning Place
Sept ember (Septem- Seven) 9th
Oct ober
(Octo- Eig ht) 10th
Nov ember
(Nov em- Nine) 11th
December
(Deka- T en) 12th
4 1 5280
5280 880
c 6 ""
77"
124
42
15, 21, 28. T hese ar e tr iang ul ar number s :
1, 3, 6, 10, 15 21 28 n (n + 1)
2
A O T his pr obl em woul d easily l ead one t o t hi nk t hat
T r O t he speed we seek is t he mean result of 10
and 15 kil ometr es i.e. 12.5 an hour . But this is wr ong .
In f act, if t he distance the skier cover s is x kilometr es,
then going at 15 kilometr es an hour he will r equir e
x i x 2x
-
T l f
- and at 12.5 kil ometr es irvrr or - ?
1d 1^72 Zb
S o t he equation: 2x 1 1 2x
25 15 10 25
Becaus e each of these is equal t o one hour , when
we simplif y, we obtain: 2 _ 2
25 15 25
Or it can be ex pr essed in ar ithmetical pr opor t i on:
4
-
1
+
1
25 15 10
But this equat i on is wr ong hecaus e:
1 1 1 4 , 4
+ = i.e. and not
15 10 6 24 25
But it can be solved orally in t he f ollowing manner :
If t he speed is 15 kilometr es an hour and was out f or
t wo hour s mor e he woul d cover an additional 30 kilo-
metr es. In one hour , as we alr eady k now, he cover s 5
k ms mor e. T hus , he woul d be out f or 30:5 = 6 hour s .
T his f igure deter mines t he dur at i on of the r un at 15
kilometr es an hour : 6 - 2 = 4 hour s . A nd now we can
easily f ind t he distance cover ed : 15 x 4 4 = 60 kilo-
metr es.
125
Now, again, without any dif f iculty we can see how
f ast he mus t ski t o arrive at t he appoi nt ed pl ace at 12
noon i.e. five hour s .
44
7
3
- 7 x 48 = 7
ATi
2

o r 5 3 6 8 7 0 9 1 2
H r O T he s um of the coef f icients equal s the s um of
t he combi nat i ons of twenty nine things taken none at a
time pl us twenty nine things t aken one at a time.
A ^ F i r s t of al l , let us s ee what ha ppe ne d t o t he
T r O o r i g i n a l numbe r . A s i mi l ar numbe r was
wr i t t en a l ong s i de it. It wor k e d out t o t he s a me as if
we t ook a numbe r , mul t i pl i e d it by 100 a nd t he n
a dde d t he or i g i nal numbe r . For ex ampl e:
872872 = 872000 + 872
He r e my f r i end has act ual l y mul t i pl i ed t he
or i g i nal numbe r by 1001. Wha t di d he do af ter
t ha t ?
He ha d it di v i ded s ucces s f ul l y by 7, 11 a nd 13 or
by 7 x l l x 13 i.e. by 1001.
S o he act ual l y f irst mul t i pl i ed t he or i g i nal
numbe r by 1001 a nd t he n ha d it di v i ded by 1001.
Ho w v er y s i mpl e !
47
Begin her e
126
A Q 45 Paise, 2 five Pais e, 2 t en Pai s e and 1 t went y
T " O f i v e Pai s e.
/ I A 7 , 346, 648, 004, 560, 986, 21 5, 348, 444, 286,
* 3 / 445, 305, 146, 039, 140, 046, 960, 678, 582,
256, 003.
f r r | 7 . 52 X 7 = 364 364 + 1 = 365 day s
v J V /T he r e ar e 52 of each day pl us 1 ex tr a day . T hus
the pr obabil it y of any one day of week occur r i ng , in a
non- leap Y ear is one- seventh.
51
Let t he chang e in r adi us or hei g ht be x . T hen
(8)
2
(3 + x ) = (8 + x )
2
(3); x = 16/3
{ T Q W h e n I t ook hal f o f t he s t r i ng t he r e nat ur al l y
r e ma i ne d y
2
. A f t er De e pa t ook what s he
want ed ther e r emai ned
l
/n. Af ter Arhit V
8
r emai ned,
and af ter Pallavi -g- x =, ^ . I f 3 0 c m=
3 3
t hen t he original l eng th was 30. ^
=
400 cm
or 4 met r es .
53
(26 _ 1) / 2 =
64
(18 x 19) + (1 4 x 47) = 1000
55
u
127
V er y simple. All y ou have t o do is t o
f ind the digit whi ch, added to the t wo y ou will
get near est divisible by 9. For ex ampl e, in 639, I
cr os s ed out the 3, and I told him the ot he/ t wo 6 and 9.
All he had to do was add t hem and get 15. T he near est
number divisible by 9 is 18. T her ef or e the missing
number is 3.
Now we have to- see how the number s ar e t o
be pl aced. Let us as s ume the f ollowing:
T he s um of t he numbe r s at t he poi nt s is 26,
whi l e t he t ot al of all t he numbe r s of t he star is 78.
T her ef or e, t he s um of t he numbe r s of t he i nner
he x a g on is 78 - 26 = 52.
We s hal l now pr oc e e d on t o e x a mi ne one of t he
bi g t r i ang l es . T he s um of t he numbe r s on e a c h of
its s i des is 26. If we a dd up t he t hr ee s i des we get
26 x 3 = 78. But i n t hi s cas e, t he numbe r s at t he
poi nt s will e a ch be c ount e d t wi ce. S i nc e t he s um
of t he numbe r s of t he t hr ee i nner pai r s i.e. t he
i nner he x a g on mus t , nat ur al l y be 52. T he n t he
do ubl e d s um at poi nt s of e a c h t r i ang l e is 78 - 52 =
26 or 13 f or e ach t r i ang l e.
At t hi s poi nt our s ear ch nar r ows down. We
k no w t ha t nei t her 12 nor 11 c a n o c c upy t he ci r cl es
at t he poi nt s . S o we ca n tr y 10 a nd i mme di a t e l y we
c o me t o t he c onc l us i on t hat t he ot her t wo di g i t s
mus t be 1 a nd 2.
It is all ver y s i mpl e now. A l l we hav e t o do is
f ol l ow up a nd ev ent ual l y we s hal l f i nd t he ex act
a r r a ng e me nt we ar e l ook i ng f or , as s how n in t he
f i g ur e be l ow:
128
1, 3, 9, 27, 81, 243. A l l powe r s of t hr ee.
L et us a s s ume a is 'Di ophant us ' a g e
a/6 + a/1 2 + a/7 + 5 + a/2 + 4
= a; a = 84
Di aphant us lived t o be 84 years ol d
24 bi l l i on hour s l ater it w oul d be 9 O' c l oc k
a nd 8 hour s bef or e t hat it w oul d be one
O'cl ock .
We s hal l do a s i mpl e l i s t i ng bel ow, \ vhich will
pr ov i de us t he s ol ut i on:
1 2 3 Condi t i ons Met
1 2 3 No
129
1 3 2 No
2 1 3 No
2 3. 1 Y e s
3 1 2 Y e s
3 2 1 No
A ns we r is or
/ Z O One may t hi nk that the magnif ying glass
{ 3 m increases our angle t o 172 x 4 = 6. But it is a
great mistake. T he magnif y ing glass cannot incr ease
t he mag ni t ude of the angle.
Y e s , t he ar c me a s ur i ng t he ang l e i ncr eas es , but
t he n its r adi us i ncr eas es pr opor t i onal l y t oo. A n d
t he r es ul t is t hat t he ma g ni t ude of t he cent r al
a ng l e r e ma i ns unc ha ng e d.
It ma y be wor t h y our whi l e t o ma k e a pr act i cal
ex per i ment wi t h t hi s .
O One of the f ather s is t he s on of the other f ather .
T he pr obl em pos ed woul d seem as if ther e ar e
altogether f our per sons concer ned. But that is not so.
T he thr ee per sons ar e g r andf ather , f ather and s on.
T he g r andf ather gave his s on Rs . 150/- and the latter
passed on Rs. 100/- of t hem t o the g r ands on (i.e. his
son). T hus incr easing his own money by Rs. 50/- .
64
Sin 30
Cos 30
T an 30
Cot n 30
1
2
Si n 60
^ 3
2
vT
2
Cos 60
1
2
1
v T
T an 60
3 Cot 60 1
130
Sec 30 2 Sec 60'
2
\/3"
Cs c 30 2 Cs c 60'
2
V 3
f " C* Y ou will be s t unned at t he answer . T he pole
U l J woul d be 1000 kil ometr es hig h. Let us try to cal-
culate it mental l y .
A cubi c met r e equal s : 1000 cubi c millimetr e x 1000
x
1000.
One t hous and millimetre cubes pl aced one at op
anot her will mak e a pole 1 met r e in height. A nd since
we have 1000 * 1000 times mor e cubes , we shall have a
pole that is 1000 kilometr es long.
| T * 7 T h e total of all t he number s on a cl ock f ace is
O / 78. A nd so that total of each of t he six par ts
s houl d be 78 : 6 = 13.
T his hel ps t o f ind t he sol ution as s hown in the f igure
above.
66
No one knows !
131
/ * Q A n essential f act we mus t know bef or e we star t
0 0 , s o l v i n g the pr obl em, we mus t k now how many
legs the spider and t he beetle hav e. Fr om t he s tudy of
nat ur al science, we k now that spider s hav e 8 legs and
beetles 6.
Let us now as s ume that ther e were only beetles in
t he box 8 of t hem. T hen ther e s houl d be 48 legs, or 6
less t han ment i oned in the pr obl em.
Now if we substitute one spider f or one of t he
beetles, the number of legs will incr ease by 2, becaus e
the spider has 8 legs and not 6.
It is now clear that if we substitute thr ee spider s f or
thr ee beetles we shall br i ng the number of legs in the
box t o t he r equir ed 54. In that case, instead of 8 beetles
we shall have 5. T he rest will be spider s.
Now we can concl ude that the boy col l ected 5
beetles and 3 spider s: 5 beetles have 30 legs and 3
spider s hav e 24 legs. In all t he boy collected 54 legs.
If S434S0 is t o be divisible by 36, t hen it is al so
divisible by 4 and 9. T o be divisible by 4 S mus t
be an even number .
T o be divisible by 9, 25 + 11 is a mul tipl e of 9. T he
digit '8' is t he only number that meets these t wo
condi t i ons . Whe n we s ubs t it ut e 'S' with '8' we get the
A ns : 843480.
M = 1000 D = 500 C = 100
L = 50 X = 10 and VI = 6
If we add all these tog ether , the result is 1666.
n
All the pr obl ems pr opos ed by the mag i ci an ar e
insoluble. T he mag ician coul d easily mak e s uch
an of f er, very well knowi ng that he never woul d have t o
par t with his hundr ed r upees. Let us now anal y se t he
pr obl em algebraically, t o k now ex actly wher e t he
mag ician had his safety valve:
132
T o pay 5 r upees : Let us as s ume that it is necessar y
for us t o have 'a' number of 50P coins, 'b' number of 20P
coins and 'c' number of 5P coins. T hen we will have the
equation:
50a + 20b + 5c = 500 P = 5 r upees.
Simpl if y ing this we get : 10a + 4b + c = 100
Howev er , accor ding t o the pr obl em, the total
number of coins is 20, and ther ef or e we have the other
equation: a + b + c = 20
Whe n we subtr act this equat i on f r om the first we
get: 9a + 3b = 80
Div iding this by 3 we obtain: 3a + b = 26
2
/3. But 3a i.e.
the number of 50 P coins multiplied by 3 is, of cour se,
an integer like b, the number of 20 P coins. A nd the
s um of these t wo number s cannot be a f r actional
number . T her ef or e the pr obl em is insoluble. In the
s ame way the 'r educed' pay ment pr obl em are also
similarly insoluble. In the case of Rs.3/- we get the
f ollowing equation: 3a
x
b = 1372
A nd in t he case of Rs. 2/- we get t he equation: 3a + b
= 6
2
/
3
Bot h, as we can see, ar e f r actional number s .
T her ef or e the magician risked not hi ng in maki ng s uch
a g ener ous offer. But it woul d hav e been anot her thing
altogether had he asked for Rs . 4/- instead of Rs. 5/- ,
Rs. 3/- or Rs . 2/- . T hen we coul d have f ound seven
dif f erent sol utions t o the pr obl em.
Cy c l oi d. Cy cl oid is the simplest member of the
class of cur ves known as r oulettes and it was
not k nown bef or e the 15 Cent ur y . A nd it was seriously
studied until the 17th Cent ur y .
Many great mat hemat i ci ans like Des car tes , Pascal,
Lis buitz, the Ber moul l is and other s have investigated
the pr oper ties of the Cy cl oid that it was s omet i mes
named the 'Hel en on Geomet er s '.
133
73
74 370, 371, 407.
75
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
S)
h)
i)
9 = 3
2
16 = 42
25 = 52
36 = 62
49 = 72
64 = 8
2
81 =92
(291 + l )
2
= 21316
76
a) In a given circle O, dr aw a diameter A B
b) Construct C D as perpendicular bisector of A B
134
268
c) Bisect OB , label its centr e M.
d) Us ing M as a centr e and C M as a r adius, dr aw an
ar c inter secting A O at E,
e) CE is the r equir ed l eng th of one side of t he
inscr ibed pent ag on.
^ T ^ First of all let us f ind out how t he typists
/ / s houl d divide the j ob t o f inish it at the s ame
time.
T he mor e ex per ienced ty pist, t hat is Mr . Das Gupt a,
can wor k times faster t han t he ot her . T her ef or e it is
clear that his shar e of wor k s houl d be times gr eater .
T hen Mr Das Gupt a as well as t he new lady typist will
bot h f inish t he wor k simul taneousl y .
Hence Mr Das Gupt a should take
3
/s of the wor k and
t he lady typist
2
/s.
T his solves the pr obl em, but ther e still r emains f or
us t o f ind how l ong it takes Mr . Das Gupt a t o do his
shar e i.e.
3
A of the wor k.
We k now that he can do t he whol e j ob in t wo hour s .
T her ef or e
3
/s of j ob will be done in
3
/
5
* 2 = V- /s hour s .
S o t he other typist also mus t f inish her shar e of wor k
within t he s ame time.
135
T her ef or e the f astest t i me they can finish t he wor k is
1 hour and 12 mi nut es .
T her e wer e t wo girls and a boy , their f ather
and mot her , and their f ather's f ather and
mot her .
A s it woul d be t oo much f or wor ds to g o i nt o the
ex pl anat i ons of r elationships her e, the mos t satis-
f actor y thing for y ou t o do woul d be to sit down, write
out a list of the seven peopl e involved, and check off
t he twenty thr ee r elationships.
79
33 +43 +53 = 27 + 64 + 125 = 216 = 6
3
p +
6
3 +
8
3 = 1 + 216 + 512 = 729 = 9
3
25
3
+ 38
3
+ 87
3
= 15625 + 54872 + 658503 =
729000 = 90
3
Q f | Whi l e solving this pr obl em, we mus t bear in
O v f m i n d t he rule g ov er ning the divisibility of
a number by 11.
A number is divisible by 11 if t he dif f erence of t he
s ums between t he s ums of t he odd digits and t he even
digits, count i ng f r om the r ight, is divisible 11 or equal t o
0.
Let us , f or ex ampl e, try t he number 49836781.
T he s um of the even digits : 9 + 3 + 7 + l = 20
T he s um of t he odd digits - .4 + 5 + 6 + 8 = 23
T he crescent may be divided in six parts as shown
in the diag r am. T he six par ts are number ed f or
t he s ake of conv enience.
136
D C C L X X X I X
T he model is 8000000 times lighter t han the
real Eiffel T ower . Bot h ar e made of the s ame
metal , and s o the v ol ume of t he model s houl d be
8000000 times less t han that of t he real tower .
We k now that the v ol umes of similar f igures ar e t o
one anot her as the cubes of their altitudes.
T her ef or e, the model mus t be 200't i mes smaller
t han t he original becaus e 200 x 200 x 200 = 8,000000
T he al titude of the real tower is 300 metres', and so
the height of the model should be 300: 200 = V/z metr es.
T hen t he model will be about the height of a man.
1408 hour s is actually 8 mi nut es past 2 P. M.
"This is the system of twenty- four- hour cl ock.
Wr i t i ng t he hour s and mi nut es this way is a sensible
means of avoiding any conf us i on between A . M. and
P. M.
T his sy stem which is commonl y us ed in the railway
t i me tabl es in cont i nent of Eur ope leave no possible
doubt about the time of the day or night when a tr ain is
137
due t o leave a station. Mi dni g ht is ex pr essed as 0000
hour s .
O f T T he first tear r esults in t wo, or 2
1
, pieces of
O i J p a p e r . T he s econd tear results in f our or 2
2
pieces, t he thir d tear eight or 2
3
, t he f our th in six teen or
2
4
pieces and s o on. It is ev ident at once that af ter t he
f if tieth tear t he stack will consist of 2
50
sheets of paper
whi ch equal s 11258 9990 6842 624
Now, we k now that t her e ar e a t hous and sheets t o
t he i nch. T her ef or e t he stack will be about
1125899906842 inches hig h.
T o get the height of t he s t ack in feet we hav e t o
divide this number by 12 and t o get it in miles we hav e
t o divide t he r esulting number by 5280. T he f inal r esult
will be well over 17,000,000 miles.
Q /^H a r mo n i c Pr ogr ession. T his is s omet i mes
O^f c bbr e v i a t e d t o H. P. (Don't conf use it as Hor s e
Power or t he sauce).
87
360
O OF i bona c c i series. In this series the s um of t he
0 0 2 n d and 3rd t er ms equal s the 4th t er m, tj j e
s um of t he 3r d and 4th t er m equal s the 5th t er m, t he
s um of t he 4t h and 5th t er m equal s t he 5th t er m and s o
on all t he way t hr oug h t he series.
T his series is named af ter Fi bonacci , who was
bor n in 1175.
Fi bonacci t houg ht that his series of number s
138
sol ved many pr obl ems connect ed with pl ant g r owt h
and it was f ound t o be t r ue t hat t he positions and
number s of the leaves on t he s t ems of cer tain pl ants
ar e connect ed by t he series.
7
-
8
->
7
-
8
-
9
-
8
-
9
-
1 0
One woul d quickly come out with the ans wer ,
1 ki l og r amme, that is f our times less. But this is
absol utel y wr ong .
T he smaller br ick is not only f our times shor ter t han
t he real one, but it is also f our times nar r ower and f our
t i mes lower and ther ef or e its v ol ume and weight ar e 4 x
4 x 4 = 64 times.
T he cor r ect answer woul d be : 4000: 64 = 62.5
Gr amme s .
Now let's see how this coul d have been done
with t he least possible number of mov es.
T o star t with let us as s ume that we had only t wo
coi ns 25 F and 5 P, and not five. How many mov es
woul d we r equir e then ?
We woul d ex actly r equir e thr ee mov es. T he 25 P
coi n woul d g o into the middl e s aucer , the 5 P coin i nt o
t he thir d and then t he 25 P comes over it.
Now let us add one mor e coi n t o this t hr ee
ins tead of t wo, 25 P, 5 P and 10 P. We shall now see
how many mov es we need t o t r ans pos e the pile.
Fir st we mov e the t wo smal l er coins in t he mi ddl e
s aucer , and t o do that as we alr eady k now we need
thr ee mov es . T hen we mov e t he 10 P coin t o t he t hir d
s aucer . T hat is one mor e mov e. T hen we mov e t he t wo
coins f r om t he s econd s aucer , t o t he thir d and that
mak es it anot her thr ee mov es . T her ef or e, we hav e t o
do al tog ether 7 mov es .
139
For f our coins we need 15 mov es and for 5 coins we
will need 31 mov es.
A n inter esting patter n can be not ed f r om t he abov e
cal cul ations.
T he number s we obt ai ned are :
Coins Moves Pattern
2 3 2 x 2 - 1 = 2
2
- 1
3 7 2 x 2 x 2 - 1 = 2
3
- 1
4 15 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 - 1 = 2
4
- 1
5 31 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 - 1 = 2
5
- 1
S o the easiest way t o f ind out the number of mov es
is t o multiply 2 by itself as many times as ther e ar e
coins t o be tr ans pos ed and t hen subtr act 1.
For instance if ther e ar e eight coins t he oper at i on
woul d be as f ollows :
2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 - 1 or 2
8
- l
A nd t en coi ns :
2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 - 1 = 2
1 0
- 1
Q O A ppr ox i mat el y 24 f eet.
J 8 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + y
2
+ y
2
+ % +1/4 +
1/8
=
8 + 2(4 + 2 +1+y
2
+>/
4
+1/8 + )
8 + 2 (4 + 2) + 2 (2) = 24
8 + 12 + 2(2) (1 + >/
2
+ Y* + 1/8 ) =
S n = 1 + 0/2)
1
+{y
2
y + + (>/
2
)n- l
y
2
S n = (i/
2
) + (i/
2
)2 + (i/
2
)3 + (y
2
)n- l +
0/
2
)n
Subt r act i ng t he s econd line f r om t he f irst, we hav e
S n (l>/
2
) = 1 - (y
2
)n
A nd t her ef or e: ,
Sn =(i-y
2
)
n
= 2-(y
2
)
Si nce n increases indef initely,
!
/2 n- 1
appr oaches zer o and S n appr oaches 2 as a limit.
1- (y
2
)n
n- 1
S n = V2 = 2 - (
[
/
2
)
140
44, 36 T he odd t er ms incr ease by 9 each
time, and the even t er ms incr ease by 7 each
time.
T o solve this pr obl em, we shall have t o star t
f r om t he end.
We hav e been tol d that af ter all t he tr anspositions,
the number of mat ches in each heap is the same. Let
us pr oceed f r om this f act.
Si nce t he total number of mat ches has not chang ed
in t he pr ocess, and t he total number being 48, it f ollows
that ther e wer e 16 mat ches in each heap.
A nd s o, in t he end we hav e: First He ap: 16, Second
He a p: 16, T hir d He ap: 16
Immedi at el y bef or e this we hav e added t o t he first
heap as many mat ches as ther e wer e in it, i.e. we had
doubl ed t he number . S o, bef or e t he f inal tr ansposition,
ther e ar e only 8 mat ches in t he first heap.
Now, in t he thir d heap, f r om whi ch we t ook these 8
mat ches , ther e wer e: 16 + 8 = 24 matches.
We now have t he number s as f ollows: First He ap:
8, S econd He ap: 16, T hir d He a p: 24.
We k now that we t ook f r om t he s econd heap as
many mat ches as ther e wer e in t he thir d heap, whi ch
means 24 was doubl e t he original number . Fr om this
we k now how many mat ches we had in each heap af ter
t he first t r ans pos i t i on:
Fir st He a p: 8, Second He a p: 16 + 12 = 28, T hi r d
He ap: 12.
Now we can dr aw t he f inal concl us i on that bef or e
t he first tr ansposition the number of mat ches in each
heap was :
First He ap: 22, Second He a p: 14, T hir d He ap: 12.
ET Her e is t he compl et ed mag ic s quar e:
141
67 1 43
13 37 61
31 73 7
T o f ind the sol ution, we mus t , first of all f ind t he
number in t he centr al cell whi ch in this case is y
2
(43 +
31) or 37.
Whe n this diagonal is compl et e, we k now total f or
each diagonal , r ow and col umn whi ch in this
ex ampl e is 111.
In this way y ou build up t he entir e mag ic s quar e cell
by all.
588 - 7 x 84; 4200 = 50 x 84; Y es
Each t er m in this series is a f actor ial, in ot her
wor ds , t he pr oduct of all t he number s f r om 1 t o
t he par ticul ar t er m consider ed. T he first five ter ms of
t he series ar e, ther ef or e 1, 2, 6 , 24, 1 20 and t he s um of
these number s is 153.
No. Knitting needles conf or m t o t he St andar d
Wi r e Guag e (S. W. G. ) sizes, and t he larger t he
S. W. G. number , the smaller is t he diameter of t he
wire.
f V f V T h e thir tieth set woul d consist of : 2
30
=
J . U l / 1 0 7 3 74 1824 letters
T he first set consists of 2 or 2
1
letters.
T he s econd set consists of 4 or 2
2
letters.
T he t hi r d set consists of 8 or 2
3
letters.
A nd ther ef or e the 30th set woul d consist of 2
30
letters.
/\ Her e are f our sol utions. But with patience
X w A and pencil wor k y ou can find- mor e:
765 859 364 849
324 743 725 357
1089 1602 1089 1206
- 1) = 149, since all but one lose one
/ \ 0 78, 116 T he odd t er ms ar e in t he decimal
X U O sy stem and differ by 10. A nd each even
t er m is t he pr eceding odd t er m ex pr essed in t he
oct onar y sy stem. 78 - 8 = 9, r emainder 6 : 9 : 8 = 1,
r emai nder 1.
1 A A (7/16) X 9 + 10y
2
s econds
143
~t 6 men pack 6 box es in 6 minutes
JL\ /v/6 men pack 1 box in 1 minut e
' 6 men pack 60 box es in 60 mi nut es
106
Primes Composites
163 161 = 7 x 23
167 169 = 13
2
293 187 = 11 x 17
367 289 = 17
2
"1 First the t wo sons r owed acr oss t he river
X V I / and one stay ed behi nd while t he ot her
r et ur ned in the boat t o his f ather . T he s on r emai ned
behi nd while the f ather cr ossed the river. T hen t he
ot her s on br oug ht back t he boat and the t wo br ot her s
r owed over together .
108
9 means the pr oduct of 9 nines.
9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 = 387420489
9
9
9 woul d mean 9
387420489
or t he pr oduct of 387420489
nines.
T his claculation woul d r equir e mor e t han thr ee
hundr ed and eightyseven million multiplications and at
t he r ate of one digit per s econd, it woul d r equir e nearly
twelve years t o write t he number .
109
It is not a pr i me number . 1757051 x
1291 x 1361
144
/\ T he value of Pi t o sev en places of decimal s
X X v f ar e cont ai ned in this mnemoni c. T he num-
ber of letters in each word cor r esponds to the succes-
sive integers in the decimal ex pans i on of Pi.
One minute and thirtynine seconds, because
X X X when the ni net y ni nt h cut is made, t he
r emai ni ng f oot does not hav e t o be cut.
C\ Lal itha got 3 and V as ant ha 5.1 ate my shar e
X X M of the gooseberries which was 61/3. Therefore
there were 2/3 of the gooseberries left in the bowl.
Lal itha t ook her 1/3 of these or 1/3 of 2/3 = 2/9 of
t hem.
S o when V as ant ha arrived alr eady 1/3 + 2/9 = 5/9 of
the original gooseber r ies had been eaten. T her ef or e
only 4/9 of the original number of the gooseber r ies
r emai ned f r om which V as ant ha pr oceeded to eat her
shar e.
T heref ore V as ant ha ate 1/3 of 4/9 and there r emained
2/3 of 4/9 = 8/27.
But in t he evening we saw that eight gooseberries
r emai ned in the bowl.
T her ef or e 8/27 of the original number = 8.
S o ther e wer e 27 gooseber r ies in the bowl when I
first t ook my share of 9.
I was t he only one t o have had my fair shar e of the
gooseber r ies.
Lal itha t ook what she t houg ht was her shar e, f r om
the r emaining 18 gooseberries namel y 6. A nd f r om the
r emaining 12 V asantha had taken 4 gooseberries think-
ing that t o be her share.
Now af ter Lalitha got her 3 and V as ant ha her 5
gooseber r ies, we all had eaten an even shar e of 9
gooseber r ies each.
145
1 1 Q
T h e
g oog ol is: 10,000, 000, 000, 000, 000,
X X * J 0 0 0 , 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000,
000, 000,-000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000,
000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.
A 22y
2
T he hour hand moves same f raction
X X T " of t he di s t ance bet ween t wo and t hr ee (30 )
as t he mi nut e hand has mov ed of a compl et e r ot at i on
(1/ 4)
30 - -1( 3 0 ) = 30 - 7 = 22
4 2 2
( T If ther e wer e x chi l dr en at the par t y t hen t he
X X J t w o way s of di s t r i but i ng the candy can be
r epr es ent ed by thes e t wo ex pr es s i ons :
3(x - 1) + 2 and 2x + 8
. 3 x - 3 + 2 = 2x + 8
or x = 9
T he numbe r of candy f or dis t r ibut ion = 2 x 9 + 8 = 26
"1 T he tr ain l eaving My s or e travels f aster , and
X X O natur al l y they meet and cr os s one anot her
near er t o Bang al or e.
T he meet i ng pl ace is 40/90 of 60 or 26- 2/3 mil es
f r om Bang al or e and 50/90 of 60 or 33- 1/3 miles f r om
My s or e, and this happens at 10- 40 A . M.
"1 "1 ^ T his is a ty pical ex ampl e of a pr obl em with
X X / g eomet r i cal basis, disguised by ex t r aneous
details. It is i mpos s i bl e t o solve this pr obl em wi t hout
g eomet r y .
T he ques t i on is why does the f r ont ax le wear out
f aster t han the r ear . We k now f r om Geomet r y t hat t he
cricle with a smal l er ci r cumf er ence has t o mak e mor e
r ev ol ut i ons t han t he bigger circle t o cover t he s ame
di s t ance. A nd, nat ur al l y , t he wheel t ur ns mor e of t en,
and qui cker the f r ont ax l e wear s out .
146
118
o c
o c
119
1973, 1979, 1987, 1993, 1997, 1999
"1 C\ / > Ci r cumf er ences are t o one anot her as their
X " diameters. If the cir cumf er ence of one pump-
kin in 60 centimetr es and of t he ot her 50 Centimetres,
then t he r atio between their di amet er s is.
6 0: 5 0 = 6/5 and the r atio bet ween their sizes is:
(6/5p
=
216/125 = 1.73
T he bigger pumpk i n, if it wer e pr iced accor ding t o its
size or weight s houl d cost 1.73 times or 73 per cent
mor e t han t he small one. Y et t he v endor has pr iced it
only 50 per cent mor e. T her ef or e, it is clear , that t he
bigger pumpk i n is a better bar g ai n.
c y 8, 12, 5, 20
^ X A + B + C + D = 45
A + 2 = B - 2 = 2 C = D/2
A = B - 4 ; C - B - 2 ; D = 2(B - 2)
2
B - 4 + B - 2 + 2(B
2
2) = 45
147
B = 12
A = 8
C =. 5
D = 20
T hus : 1 2- 2 = 8 + 2 = 5 x 2 = 20/2 = 10
"I O O A battalion of soldiers came marching past our
window. I had k nown all al ong that a cor ps
of ar my cadets consisting of over 100 men, mar ched
past our hotel ex actly at 2 P. M. every T ues day
af t er noon.
Q Q 123 - 45 - 67 + 89
X ^ O Al so 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 x 9
f y A 1152 cubic centimetr es.
X ^ T " L e t us as s ume v is the v ol ume of the box ,
and x be the side of the squar es cut out .
T hen v = (32 - 2x ) (20 - 2x )x
or v = 640x - 104x
2
+ 4x
3
' = 640 - 208x + 12x
2
For a max i mum v ol ume = o
dx
or 3x
2
- 52 x + 160 = 0
or (3x - 40) (x - 4) = 0
40
or x = 4 or x =
T he real v ol ume of x can only be 4. T her ef or e t he
max i mum v ol ume of t he box i s 2 4 x l 2 x 4 = l 152 cubi c
centimetr es.
' I C% P* Yes. Vasantha did. T he person listening to^he
J L d\ 3 r adio hear s t he given note first.
148
5 b _ i 3 c
~
2 7 d
-
4 8
C\ 12 inches. T he diag onal of the end is 5.
1 M / T her ef or e the s pace diag onal will be t he
hy pot enus e of a right angle, one of whos e legs is 5, t he
ot her an integer.
T hr ee number s , k nown as t he Py t hag or ean T r iples,
can be r epr esented by:
mi y
2
(m
2
- 1) and ^( m
2
+ 1) becaus e
iri2+ 0/
2
(m
2
- l ))
2
= (i/
2
(m
2
+ l ))
2
52 + \ 2
2
= 13
2
. T he ot her di mens i on is 12 inches.
T her ef or e t he s pace diag onal is 13 inches.
1 n Q Her e again ther e is an ex ampl e of a pr obl em
X ^ r O t h a t does not s eem mat hemat i cal at all at
t he first g l ance but a closer l ook will reveal that this is a
pr obl em t hat cannot be solved wi t hout g eometr y .
We all k now that thing s usually cool down f r om t he
sur f ace. S o, a child s t andi ng out in t he street, in t he
col d, feels t he cold mor e t han a similarly dr essed adul t ,
t houg h t he amount of heat in each cubi c centimetr e of
t he body is al most the s ame in t he case of bot h.
A child has a greater cool ing sur f ace per one cubi c
centimetr e of t he body t han an adul t.
T his al so ex plains why a per s on's f ingers and nos e
suf f er mor e f r om cold and get f rost bitten of tener t han
any ot her par ts of t he body whos e sur f ace is not s o
great when compar ed t o their v ol ume.
T his s ame theor y ex plains why splint wood cat ches
fire f aster t han the log f r om whi ch it has been chopped
off. Heat s pr eads f r om t he sur f ace t o t he whol e v ol ume
of a body and ther ef or e the heat sets splint wood on
fire f aster t han t he log.
"I Q S uppos e x is t he diag onal of the f loor.
X ^ 3 7 T h e n x
2
= 24
2
+ 48
2
, x = 24 \ J~5
149
A nd if h is t he height of t he r oom, t hen
h
2
+ (2475)
2
= 56
2
and h = 16.
T hus t he height of t he r oom is 16 ft.
0 / \ T i me r equir ed f or the first
X O v r six ty miles : 120 mi nut es
T ime r equir ed f or t he s econd six ty miles
: 72 mi nut es
T otal time r equir ed : 192 mi nut es
I travelled 120 miles in 192 minutes. T her ef or e t he
aver age speed in miles per hour was : 60 x 120
= 37Vz
192
1 Q 1 T his is t he only k nown number that is a s um
X O X of t wo cubes in t wo dif f erent way s.
Ex ampl e: 10
3
+ 9
3
= 1729, 12
3
+ l
3
= 1729
T his is popul ar l y k nown as Ramanuj am's number .
T her e is an inter esting stor y about it. T he stor y goes
this way . Whe n Ramanuj am was sick in the hospital ,
Pr of . Har dy , his t ut or paid him a visit. Pr of . Har dy told
Ramanuj am that he r ode a tax icab t o the hospital , with
a very unl ucky number .
Whe n Ramanuj am enqui r ed what the number was,
Pr of . Har dy replied: 1729.
Ramanuj am's f ace lit up with a smile and he said t hat
it was not an unl ucky number at all, but a ver y
inter esting number , t he only number that can be
r epr esented as t he s um of t wo cubes in t wo dif f erent
way s !
1 3 2
1 9 d a y s
-
^ ^ ^ Pi t o 30 deci mal places.
150
1 Q y j We mus t , first of all s epar at e t he s um i nt o
lJTtwo par ts, x and y.
1 1
+
1 .
+ +
1
7
73
7
s
7
2
n
2 2
+
7
4
1
7
2
+
2
72
2
+
7
4
1
7
7
6
. 7
7
2
n
1 - 7
2
2
72
48
72 48
7 2 _ 9 _ 3
48 48 48 16
^ ^ Suppos i ng t he chang e in r adius or height be
T hen (8)
2
(3 + x ) = (8 + x )
2
(3)
16
3
"t o r 1048576 400 years ago, that is 20 generations
X 3 O back, Ram f or t hat mat t er each one of
us had 2
20
or 1048576 ances t or s .
1 3 7
A b o u t 109 years
138
No 1000009 = 293 x 3413
151
139
{
3L) ^ =
2 5 3
6 ' (6) 22372
140
l7
16x - 17
x =
_ i Z
16
A "| S he solved 95 pr obl ems cor r ectly
A t * A Let us as s ume W = Wr ong and R = Rig ht
R - 2 W = 85
R + W = 100
- 3 W = - 15
W = 5
W = 5 R = 95
A * } T her e ar e thr ee possible out comes :
G - B, B - G or G - G. Si nce onl y one of
these thr ee is girls the pr obabil ity is Vs
"I A O 40 boys.
A T r O Let G r epr esent t he number of girls in t he
or iginal g r oup and B t he number of boys in t he original
g r oup. T hen we hav e:
, G 2 , G - 45 1
=
a n
d =
B- 15 1 B- 15 5
t hen G = 2(B - 15)
5(G- 45) = (B - 15)
152
Sol v i ng t he s i mul t aneous equat i ons abov e we get:
B = 40 and G = 50
1 A A
1184
~
6368
'
5020
-
2924
'
X

T 2 6 2 0 - 5564, 6232 - 1210

^ ^ ^ P = 1. S he is cer tain t o get a pair.
J ^ g N o . 222221 = 619 x 359
A F f T he ar ea of t he edg e of t he paper whi ch is a
X i r ectangle equal s t he ar ea of t he end of
t he roll. If t he r adius of t he roll is R, t hen R
2
= W1 or 1 =
R
2
/W
/f l 25, 1 1 , 7First of all we mus t consider even-
X T r O odd possibilities f or A + B + C = 43
A , B and C must all be odd or t wo of t he t hr ee
number s mus t be even and t he ot her o^d. Let us , t o
start wi t h, investigate t he case wher e all thr ee ar e odd.
By us i ng a tabl e of cubes , we can see that t he unit
digit of A , B and C mus t be odd 1 , 3 , 5 , 7, or 9. A l s o
we can see t he f ollowing pat t er n:
Unit Digit Unit Digit Unit Digit Unit Digit of
A B C A+ B+ C
1 1 1 3*
3 3 3 9
5 5 5 5
7 7 7 1
9 9 9 7
5 7 9 1
3 7 9 9
3 5 9 7
3 5 7 5
153
1 7 9 7
1 5 9 5
1 5 7 3 *
'1 3 9 3 *
1 3 7 1
1 3 5 9
Now it is clear that we only need to consider the thr ee
cases wher e 3 appear s in t he last col umn i.e. (1, 1, 1),
(1, 5, 7) and (1, 3 9).
Unit Digit Unit Digit Unit Digit Unit Digit of
A B C A
3
+ B
3
+ C
3
1 1 1 3
1 5 7 9 x
1 3 9 7
Now we need cons i der only one or t wo digit num-
ber s with unit digits 1, 5 and 7. A nd t he possibl e v al ue
f or t he ten's digits of A , B and C are 0, 0, 3 or 0, 1, 2.
31
3
> 17299 ther ef or e 35
3
and 37
3
ar e t oo large.
27
3
> 17299
25
3
= 15625
l l
3
=1 331
07
3
= 343 S um total = 17299
Now I leave it t o t he r eader t he investigation of t he
case wher e t wo of A , B, C ar e even and t he ot her odd.
149
L . W = 2 ( L + W) W - 2 = 1 or W- 2 =2
2 W W = 3 or W = 4
L
" W - 2
T hus a 4 x 4 r ectang l e or a 3 x 6 r ectangle meets t he
condit ions .
154
1 5 0
R s 563/31
1 P I Thus goes the Benedi kt ov story: 'The problem
X X was a tr icky one and t he thr ee daug ht er s
dis cus s ed it ori 'their way t o t he mar ket , with t he
s econd and thir d appeal ing t o t he eldest f or advice.
T he latter t houg ht f or a while and t hen s ai d:
'L ook , sisters, we'll sell our eggs even at a t i me and
not t en as we always do. We'l l fix a pr ice f or seven eggs
and stick t o it, as mot her has tol d us to. Mi nd y ou,
don't r educe t he pr ice howev er much peopl e may
bar g ai n! We'l l ask t hr ee kopeks f or the first sev en
eggs, all r ig ht? '
'T hat 's pr etty cheap! ' t he s econd sister inter j ected.
'Nev er mi nd, ' t he eldest r etor ted, 'we'll raise t he
pr ice f or t he eggs that r emai n af ter that. I hav e ma de
sur e that ther e won't be any ot her egg v endor s at t he
mar ket . S o there'll be no ohe t o f or e? our pr ices down.
A nd when ther e's a de mand for eggs and not many of
t hem ar e left, the pr ice g oes up, that's only nat ur al .
A nd that's ex actly wher e we'll mak e up. '
'A nd how much shall we as k f or t he r emai ni ng
eg g s ? ' t he y oungest sister as ked.
'Ni ne kopeks an egg. A nd believe me, peopl e who
need eggs will pay t he pr ice.'
'T hat 's pr etty stiff,' t he s econd sister r emar ked. 'S o
what ? T he first seven- egg bat ches will be cheap. T he
ex pensive eggs will mak e up f or t he loss.'
'T he sisters agr eed.
'A t t he mar ket each chos e a pl ace. T he cheap pr ice
br oug ht on an av al anche of buy er s and t he y oung es t ,
who had 50 eggs, s oon sol d all her eggs but one. A t
t hr ee kopeks per seven eggs s he made 21 kopeks . T he
s econd sister, who had 30 eggs, made 12 k opek s by
selling f our peopl e seven eggs each, and had t wo eggs
155
left in t he bas ket. T he eldest made 3 kopeks f r om t he
sale of seven eggs and was left with thr ee eggs.
'Suddenl y a cook appear ed with instr uctions t o buy
ten eg g s 'Her mistr ess's s ons had come home on leave
and they loved oml et t e. T he cook r us hed about t he
mar ket , but t he only v endor s wer e the thr ee sisters
and t hen they had only six eggs the y oung est had
one, t he s econd t wo and t he eldest thr ee.
'It is only natur al t hat t he cook r ushed t o t he one
who had thr ee t hat is, t o t he eldest sister who had
sol d her bat ch of seven eggs for 3 kopeks .
'How much d'y ou want for y our eggs? ' s he as ked.
"Nine kopeks an egg,' was t he reply.
'Wha t ! Y ou'r e cr azy ! '
'T ake t hem or leave t hem. T hese are my last and I
won't t ake a kopek less.'
'T he cook r an t o t he s econd sister, the one who had
t wo eggs left in her bas ket.
'How much? ' she yelled.
'Ni ne kopeks an egg. T hat 's t he pr ice and these ar e
my last eggs.'
'A nd how much do y ou want f or y our eg g ? ' t he cook
t ur ned t o the y oung est sister.
'Ni ne kopeks . '
'Wel l , ther e was not hi ng t he cook coul d do, s o she
boug ht t he eggs at this ex or bitant price.
'All r ight,' she bur st out , 'I'll t ake the lot.'
'She pai d 27 kopeks t o t he eldest sister f or her t hr ee
eggs and with t he t hr ee kopeks the latter had f r om t he
earlier sale this br oug ht her total receipts to 30 kopeks .
T he s econd sister got 18 kopeks and with t he 12
kopeks she had r eceived earlier that also made 30
kopeks . T he y oung est got 9 kopeks for the r emai ni ng
egg and t hat , added t o t he 21 kopeks she had made on
t he sale of 49 eggs, br oug ht t he total also to 30 kopeks .
'T he thr ee sisters t hen r etur ned home, gave t he
156
money t o their mot her and tol d her how, sticking t o
t he pr ice they had agr eed upon, they had s ucceeded in
selling t en eggs for t he s ame pr ice as 50.
'T heir mot her was very pl eased t hat her instr uctions
had been car r ied out and that her eldest daug ht er had
pr ov ed s o clever. But she was ev en happier that her
daug ht er s had br oug ht her ex actl y what she had tol d
t hem t o br ing 90 kopeks . '
J E J ^ C L X V I = 166
( T f T Cir cums cr iOed. T he meani ng of t oci r cums -
X O O c r i b e , t o descr ibe a f igure r ound anot her
s o as t o t ouch it at poi nt s wi t hout cut t ing it.
T his is ex actly what takes pl ace with a circum-
s cr ibed circle.
T o f ind the centr e of s uch a circle, we have t o bisect
157
t he sides of a tr iangle and erect per pendicul ar s, whi ch
ar e concur r ent at t he ci r cumcent r e.
T he r adius R of t he cir cums cr ibed circle of t he
tr iangle A B C is given by :
R = - = - J ? =
2 Sin A 2 Si n B 2 Sin C
1
x + 9
X c l O ( 2 ) (x + 9)
2
= x
2
+ 18x + 81
(3) x
2
+ 18x + 81 - x
2
= 18x + 81
(4) 18x + 81 - 61 = 18x + 20
(5) 2(18x + 20) = 36x + 40
(6) (36x + 40) + 24 = 36x + 64
(7) 36x + 64 - 36x = 64
(8) S M + 8
T he answer will always be t he s ame since t he var iable
t er m dr ops out .
1 P f T Inscr ibed. A circle is said t o be inscr ibed in
JL\ 3 i a pol y g on when each side is tangential t o t he
circle. In case of t he simplest pol y g on a triangle, t he
inscr ibed circle is obt ai ned by bisecting the angles of a
triangle. T hese bisector s pass t hr oug h a c ommon
poi nt whi ch is t he cent r e of t he inscr ibed circle.
"I C Q Scientists hav e wor ked it out t houg h only
X %J O appr ox i mat el y : T he S un has ex isted
10, 000, 000, 000, 000 years.
159
4 x 25 + 4 = 100 + 4 = 104 poles
f " 8184We start out with 2 couples, four people
X O l / o r 2
2
peopl e who incr ease their pr og eny as
f ollows:
23 + 2" + 2
5
+ 2
6
+ 2
7
+ 2
8
+ 2
9
+ 2
1 0
+ 2
11
+ 2
12
= 8184
158
^ ^ ^ T heir bur dens wer e 7 and 5.
/ I O Scientists have wor ked it out t houg h
I Q a i appr ox i mat el y : T he ear t h has ex isted
....2000000000 years.
L O Or thogonal: Or thog onal means 'right- angled'.
J , O O In other wor ds per t ai ni ng t o or dependi ng
upon t he use of right angles. If any cur ves cut at r ight
angles, they ar e said t o inter sect or thog onal l y .
S uch cur v es are of inter est in many br anches of
appl ied mat hemat i cs . A poi nt of inter est about t wo
circles cut t i ng or thog onal l y is t hat t he s quar e of t he
dis tance bet ween the centr es is equal t o t he s um of t he
s quar es of their radii.
" A T he problem may seem tricky, but it is actually
A O
1
* v e r y simple.
Let t he di amet er of l ump s ug ar be 100 times of
powder ed sugar . A nd let us as s ume that t he di amet er
of t he sug ar par ticles and t he cup whi ch they fill
incr ease 100 times. T hen t he capacity of t he cup will
incr ease 100 x 100 x 100 = 1000000 times
pr opor tional l y .
Nex t , let us meas ur e out an or di nar y cup of s uch
enl ar g ed powder ed sugar i.e. one mil l ionth par t of t he
cont ent s of our giant cup. It will, of cour s e, weigh
ex actly t he s ame as an or di nar y glass of or dinar y
powder ed sug ar .
T hen t he ques t i on ar ises, what does our enl ar g ed
powder ed sug ar r epr es ent ? J us t a l ump of sugar .
L ump sug ar is geometr ically similar t o powder ed
sug ar and it mak es no dif f er ence if we enlar ge a s ug ar
par ticle 60 times instead of 100. A cup of l ump s ug ar
weighs t he s ame as a cup of powder ed sugar .
159
- I 71 and 17, 82 and 28 and 93 and 39.
X O v - J S uppos e X be t he digit in t he unit's pl ace and
Y be t he digit in t he ten's pl ace of t he larger number .
T hen the larger number is (10Y + X ) .
A nd the smaller number is (10X + Y ) .
A nd the dif f er ence bet ween t hem is (1 0Y + X ) - ( 1 0X
+ Y ) = 54.
or Y - X = 6
We know that Y cannot be greater t han 9 and X
cannot be less t han 1 and Y - X is ex actly 6.
Cons i der i ng these condi t i ons ther e ar e only thr ee
possibilities f or Y and X namel y t he pair s 9 and 3 , 8 and
2, and 7 and 1.
/ Z/ I T he man who is twice taller outweighs the
X OOo t h e r not two, but eight times.
1 H T he only way is t o arrange the children in the
X O / f or m of a hex ag on, as s hown in t he di ag r am.
o o o o o
o c x
o a
o o
Q . o
rs
Q . o
o o
o o o o o
160
"1 Met r es L et a smal l ang ul ar mov ement
X / " t ake pl ace dur i ng a smal l di s pl acement
ds . T hen if R is t he r adius of t he cir cle in
whi ch it mov es :
1 _ d 0
R ds
ds = R d0
S = R V 6 I 0
= R [ e ]
n
/6
.'.2.150 = R.
7r
,/6, 0
.". R = 573 metr es.
"I ^ "J - 342,1189T he only way t o obtain the law in
A. i A. this case is by t he s y s tem of trials.
161
Tn = 5T n-2 - 2T n-1
Hencd Ts = (5X - 28) - (2 x 101) = - 342
H ^ O T her e is no s uch natur al number .
X / M If A is a nat ur al number , then 2A
2
cannot be
a s quar e since A
2
can be r epr esented as t he pr oduct of
pa i r s of pr i me f a c t or s . T her e is no 'ex tr a' f actor of
t wo t o 'pair up wi t h' t he f actor of t wo in 2A
2
.
1 n r Q T he nex t t wo number s are : 13 and 31; 102,
J L O 201 . Squar es are 169 and 961; 10404 and
40401.
174
115
Si nce ( x - ~ ) ( x + y ) = 0 x
2
+ - y - x -
1 7 5
7 2 2 or 5784
^ T her e is onl y one way of f inding a s ol ution
A / O t o this pr obl em: Number s whi ch leave a
r emainder of 1, when divided by 2: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13,
15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35.
Number s whi ch leave a r emainder of 1, when
divided by 3: 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34,
37
Number s whi ch leave a r emainder of 1, when
divided by 4: 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37.
162
Number s which leave no r emai nder when divided
by 5: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35.
T he only number fulfilling t he f our conditions is 25.
"I Litres We mus t r emember that a
X / / volume has three dimensions. A nd when each
is doubl ed according to the question, the new volume is 2
x 2 x 2 times the original v ol ume.
^ Q 60 Let x equal t he number of guests. T he
1 / Or
number of dishes shar ed:
X X X
+ + = 65
2 3 4
6x + 4x + 3x = 65 x 12
13x = 65 x 12
65 x 12
x = = 60
13
179
20 T riangles
1 Q A 4 daughters and 3 sons. Consider d = number
X O v l o f daug hter s, and s = number of s ons
t hen
d - 1 = s
2(s - 1) = d
Sol v ing d and s,
d = 4, s = 3
163
181
1 Q ( 1 Ni ne : I won thr ee g ames and t hus I win 3
X O ^ f p s . A s ha has t o win back these thr ee
pennies whi ch t akes anot her thr ee g ames. A nd finally
A s ha wins thr ee mor e g ames t o win the total s um of
thr ee mor e ps.
1 Q Q Finding a Squar e with the same Ar ea as a given
X O O Cir cl e is a pr obl em which conf r ont ed even
t he Gr eek Mat hemat i ci ans . T he dif f iculty in this
pr obl em lies in t he f act that a ruler and compas s only
coul d be used.
If only we coul d dr aw a str aight line equal t o t he
cir cumf er ence of circle Eur eka! But at t empt s t o
solve t he pr obl em f r om as f ar back as 460 B . C. has
been in vain.
1 Rakes h was car r y ing 5 pieces of l umber and
X Ot * Nikhil esh 7. Suppos i ng Nikhil esh had n
pieces. If he gave 1 piece t o Rakes h, he woul d hav e n -
1 - pieces.
But Rakes h woul d have t hen t he s ame number as
Nikhil esh. T her ef or e the total number of pieces mus t
hav e been:
n - l + n - l o r 2 n - 2
Si nce Nikhil esh had n or iginally, Rakes h mus t hav e
had 2n - 2 - n or n - 2.
If Rakes h gave Nikhil esh 1 of his n - 2 pieces, he
woul d hav e n - 3 and Nikhil es h woul d have n + 1.
But we hav e t he i nf or mat i on t hat
n + 1 is twice n - 3
i.e. n + 1 = 2(n - 3)
or n + 1 = 2n - 6
or 7 = n
5 = n - 3
1 ftGfc
1,
E, T , T , F, F, S, S, E.
l O < J First letter of cons ecut i v e whol e number
names .
186
31 Eggs
187
7451 8
3982 4_
29 * 69882 8
T he number s at t he right of t he t wo f actor s and t he
pr oduct ar e the r esidues af ter casting out nines. '
Si nce 8 x 4 = 32, t he r esidue on the right of t he
multiplicand s houl d be 5.
Si nce 8+ 7 = 14 r esidue 5 the missing digit mus t be 6.
J g g A bout 330
Q Q Scientists hav e wor ked out t houg h onl y
X O a p p r o x i m a t e l y : Lif e on ear th has ex isted
300, 000, 000 years
165
2.3 = 1.2.3 A nd 14.15 = 5.6.7
Q "| K n o t : A log of thin quadr ant of wood was
1 7 1 weig hed t o f loat upr ig ht and f astened t o a
line wound on a reel, and pieces of knot t ed str ing wer e
f astened t o t he log line.
T he number of these knot s which r an out while t he
s and glass was r unni ng gave the speed of t he s hi p in
knot s , or in nautical miles a nautical mile is 6080 feet
per hour .
Q Q T he diameter of the cherry is three times that
X J of t he s t one. S o, t he size of t he cher r y is
3 x 3 x 3 = 27 times that of t he stone.
T hus , t he s t one occupi es 1/27 par t of t he cher r y and
t he r emaining 26/27 par t is occupi ed by t he f lesh of t he
cher r y .
In other wor ds , t he flesh is 26 times bigger in v ol ume
t han t he s t one.
Q O Let t he number of mang oes be X .
X y v ) T he first naug ht y boy at one, leaving x - 1.
He left behi nd t wo thir d of
(2x - 1) 2x - 2
x - 1 or or
3 3
T he s econd naug ht y boy ate one leaving
2x - 2
3
2x - 2 - 3 2x - 5
or or
3 3
He left behi nd two- thir ds of
2x - 5 2(2x - 5)
or or or
3 3 x 3
166
4x - 10
9
T he thir d naug ht y boy ate one, leaving
4x - 19 .
9
4 x - 1 0 - 9 4x - 19
or or
9 9
He left behind two- thir ds of
4x - 19 2(4x - 19)
9 3 x 9
4x - 3 8
or
27
In t he mor ni ng one mang o was eaten leaving
8x - 38
r
8x - 38 - 21 8x - 65
27 27 27 .
8x - 65
Si nce
27 mang oes wer e divided equal l y
i nt o thr ee par ts, the number mus t be a mul tipl e of 3.
, 8x - 65
Let
27 = 3n wher e n is an integ er .
T hen 8x - 65 = 81n
8x = 81n + 65
Si nce x is a whol e number , 81n + 65 mus t be an ev en
number , because no odd number is divisible by 8.
Si nce 65 is odd 81n mus t be odd, becaus e t he s um of
t wo odd number s is even.
Si nce 81n is odd, n mus t be odd.
167
Let n be equal t o t he odd number 2b + 1
T hen 8x = 162b + 8 1 + 6 5
or 8x =1 6 2 b + 146
or 4x = 81b + 73
A s bef or e the right side mus t be even.
T her ef or e b mus t be odd.
Let b be equal to t he odd number 2c + 1
T hen 4x = 162c + 81 + 73
or 4x = 162c + 154
or 2x = 81c + 77
A s bef or e t he right side mus t be even.
T her ef or e c mus t be odd.
Let c be equal t o t he odd number 2d + 1
T hen 2x = 162d + 81 + 77
or 2x = 162d + 158
or x = 81d + 79
T he least val ue of x will be obt ai ned when d = 0
T hen x = 79
T he nex t value of x can be obt ai ned when x = 1
T hen x = 160
T he nex t value of x when d = 3 will be 241.
But by ver if ication 79 will be the cor r ect answer .
"1 Q y l T his is an ex cellent ex ample of as s oci at i v i t y
A for addi t i on:
S = (1 + - 1) + (1 + - 1) + (1 + - 1)....
S r . 0 + 0 + 0 + ....
S = 0
Howev er
S = l + ( - l + l ) + ( - l + l ) + ( - l + l ) +
S = 1 + 0 + 0 + 0 +
S = 1
Howev er , if S = 0 and 1 then 2S = 1 and V
2
T hus t he s um is indet er minat e.
195 -
168
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
17
0
30
240
1020
3120
7770
16800
42760
1419840
30 is a f actor of each of these number s . Howev er ,
when we consider t he mat t er gener ally :
n(n
2
+ 1) (n
2
- 1) = n
5
- n
If any digit is raised t o the 5th power , the unit's digit in
t he result is the s ame as t he or iginal digit.
For ex ampl e 8
5
= 32768
T her ef or e, if a number is s ubt r act ed f r om its fifth
power , the units digit mus t be 0.
6
5
- 6 = 7770
9
5
- 9 = 59040
Gener al l y s peaking t he units' digit of ft
5
- n is zer o.
Si nce n
2
- 1 (n - 1), we may wr ite n(n
2
+ 1) (n
2
- 1) as
(n - 1) n (n + 1) (n
2
+ 1)
But n - 1, n, and n + 1 ar e cons ecutiv e number s .
T her ef or e their pr oduct is an even number . A nd it
has 3 as a f actor .
We have alr eady f ound that n (n
2
+ 1) (n
2
- 1) has 5
as a f actor .
.. It mus t have 6 x 5 or 30 as A f actor
4. Let the digit unk nown be n.
X w / O T h e given number is t hen 900 + 50 + n =
950 + n.
Whe n reversed the new number is lOOn + 50 + 9 =5 9
+ lOOn.
Subt r act i ng these t wo number s 'we get 891 - 99n.
169
T he digits can be ar r ang ed in 3 ways or 6 ways.
We have al r eady investigated 2 of these way s.
We can now try one of t he r emaining 4 way s. One of
these is n 95
.'. lOOn + 90 + 5 = 891 - 99n
or 199n = 796
.'. n = 4
T he unk nown digit is 4.
Q ^ T h e ans wer is not 30 hour s . A t t he end of 27
A 3 7 / hour s he is 3 ft f r om t he t op. A nd dur ing
t he 28th hour he cl i mbs t he r emaining 3 ft and he is out .
S o t he answer is 28 hour s .
Q T he f ar mer 's wives made t he er r or of
A O cal cul ating their aver age pr ice r ate by
ar r ang i ng their indiv idual r ate of 2 or ang es a r upee and
3 or ang es a r upee over the s ame number of appl es.
T o insur e the s ame taking s as those of t he first day ,
they s houl d hav e det er mi ned their pr ice by dividing t he
total number of or ang es by the total number of r upees
t hat is,
60 12
or or ang es a r upee.
25 5
T hey actually sol d t he or ang es at t he r ate of 2%
or ang es a r upee. T hat 's wher e t he missing r upee went.
C X V I
X III
V I
C C L X V
199
C D
170
T he answer is actually 400. But it is t he cus t om when
y ou use Roman numer al s not t o write f our similar
numer al s consecutively . T her ef or e instead of wr iting
f our hundr eds ( C C C C) it is wr itten as one hundr ed
less t han five hundr ed ( C D) .
Pl acing the C bef or e t he D means C less t han D, and
pl acing it af ter the D, as in DC means C mor e t han D.
Hence C D is 400 and DC is 600.
200 =
(b)
(c)
C\ /\ T he number mus t be in the f or m:
v f X N= RK - 1, wher e R is the least c ommon
mul tipl e of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
K = 1, 2, 3 4,
R = 2520
N = 2520 - 1; N = 2519
O i " | O N o ! T he answer is not the ex pr ess. If we
miUmi do not t ake i nt o consider ation t he l eng th
of the tr ain, then slow tr ain and ex pr ess ar e t he s ame
distance f r om Cal cut t a when they meet.
2 0 3 A b o u t 150,000,000 kilometr es.
2 g 4 A b o u t 17,000,000,000,000 cor pus cl es
9
+
9
9
+
9
9 x 9
9
1
4
6
171
2 A bout 500 million s quar e kil ometr es.
#
O /T No, the answer is not Re. 1/- . If the cost of the
^ f V r O bottl e wer e Re. l /- and that of t he cor k
10P t hen t he bot t l e woul d cost only 90P mor e t han the
cor k. Cons i der i ng it mor e carefully we come out with
t he cor r ect ans wer : 105 Paise.
O f | 7
T u r n ma
3
i C s <
?
ua r e
ar ound and see. Y es !
mt \ J / T his is a mag ic s quar e bot h ups i de down
and right side up.
O f " | Q 'Ci pher ' means Zer o. T he wor d 'Ci pher '
A - f U O comes from the A r abi c Sif r. Our wor d
'Zer o' is der ived f r om this wor d.
2 Q 9 A bout 110,000,000 f eet.
O T hr e e Ce nt i me t r e s : T he book wor m only
m x U has t o g o f r om the f ront cover of V ol ume I
t o t he out s i de of t he book cover of V ol ume III, in other
wor ds he only has t o travel t hr oug h V ol ume II, whi ch is
3 Cent i met r es .
2/15: T he t wo per tinent equat i ons ar e
2
B + C = -
5
and B = 2 C
Fr om these we ar e abl e t o obt ai n
2 2
3 C = or C
5 15
172
C\ - t C% 10,000 Sur pr ised? Well, this is how it works
M I m i out. It is really immater ial what per cent ag e
of the popul at i on is one- l eg g ed! In any case t he
one- legged peopl e will all r equir e on s hoe per head.
Fr om t he r emaining , half will g o bar ef oot and ther ef or e
they need no shoes and the rest will need t wo s hoes
per head. A nd this wor ks out at one s hoe per per s on
f or the 'other s'.
T her ef or e, we shall need f or t he whol e popul at i on
on t he averaqe one s hoe per head.
O "1 Q ( a ) 720. It may sur pr ise y ou t o see s uch
L i l O a big number ,of ar r ang ement s . But it is t he
pr oduct of 6x 5x 4x 3x 2x 1 that is 6! or 6 f actor ial
6.
Her e, f or ex ampl e t he l ef thand lady can be any one
of t hem, s o ther e ar e 6 way s of choos i ng her .
T he nex t lady f r om t he l ef thand side can be chos en
in 5 way s f r om the r emai ni ng 5 ladies.
T he nex t lady in 4 way s f r om t he r emai ni ng 4 and t he
nex t lady 3 ways and so on.
If ther e was only one mor e lady maki ng us 7 ladies
tog ether , the number of possible ar r ang ement s woul d
be 7 or 5040.
If ther e wer e 9 ladies t hen ther e woul d be mor e t han
thr ee hundr ed t hous and way s of ar r ang ing us.
(b) 120. Her e t he situation is entirely dif f er ent. In
this case the answer is not t he s ame as in t he case of
(a), because it is only t he or der which is cons i der ed
her e and not the act ual position.
In this case ther e will be 6 positions in whi ch t he s ame
or der will be f ound but each position will be t ur ned
r ound relatively t o t he other .
A nd ther e is anot her way of cons i der i ng this
pr obl em. T his is to k eep one lady always in t he same
pl ace and then ar r ang e t he r emai ni ng 5 ladies. T his car
be done in 5 ways or 120.
173
A ny or der ar r ang ed clock- wise has an equival ent
or der ar r anged anti- clockwise. So, the number of 120
different^ way s incl udes bot h these as separ ate
ar r ang ements.
214
311
C\ ~ I P* S i x Do z e n Do z e n: Six dozen dozen =
L d I J 6 x 12 x 12 - 6 x 144 = 864 Half a dozen
dozen = 6 x 12 = 72
216
23! 25, 852, 000 000 000 000 000 000
10
23
100 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
24! 620, 450, 000 000 000 000 000 000
10
24
1,000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
25! 15,511, 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
10
25
10,000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
T hus t he smallest S is 25.
O "I ^ Of all the closed plane figures the circle is the
X i biggest. It woul d be, of cour se, quite impos-
174
eight mat ches it is possibl e t o mak e a f igure as s hown
in t he di ag r am, whi ch closely r esembl es a circle a
r egular oct ag on .
218 (6) = 924
219
91

r 362880
220
M 1
( 1 ( 1 1 Let us, in or der t o solve this pr obl em, slit
1 A t he cy lindr ical cont ai ner open and f latten
out t he sur f ace. Wha t we will get is a r ectang l e whos e
wi dt h is 20 centimetr es and whos e l eng th is equal t o
t he cir cumf er ence i e. 10 x 3 1/7 or 31.5
cent imet r es .
Let us, now, mar k in this r ectangl e t he pos i t i on of
t he fly and t hat of t he dr op of molasses.
B A
15
3
A
20 cm
31 y
2
17 cm
T he fly is at point A , t hat is 17 cent i met r es f r om t he
base. A nd t he dr op of mol as s es is at poi nt B, whi ch is at
175
the s ame heig ht, but half the ci r cumf er ence of t he
cylinder away f r om A i.e. 15% cent i met r es away .
T o f ind the poi nt wher e t he fly mus t cl i mb over t he
cy linder , we shall hav e to, f r om poi nt B dr aw a
per pendi cul ar line t o t he upper base and cont i nue it
upt o a similar di s t ance.
T his way , we shall obt ai n C. We shall now connect C
by a str aight line with poi nt A . Now t he di ag r am s houl d
l ook as bel ow: C n
B 15% cm A .
20 cm 17 cm
31 y
2
cm
D will be t he poi nt wher e the fly s houl d cr oss over
into the cy linder .
A nd t he r out e A DB is t he shor test way .
Now that we have f ound the shor test r out e on a
f lattened r ectangl e, we can roll it back i nt o a cy linder
and see how t he fly mus t travel in or der t o r each t he
dr op of mol asses.
2 2 2
B a t Rs 150 Bal1
~~
Rs 2 25
C% C\ O No. A 'Hex ag onal ' pencil does not hav e six
edg es as y ou pr obabl y think. It has eight, if
not s har pened six f aces and t wo smal l bases.
176
Her e the cat ch is t he er r oneous inter pr etation of
meani ng .
O O ^ T h e pr oduct is 344113. In the multipli-
e r cation each eel! is t he pr oduct of t he
number at t he t op of each col umn and t o t he right of
each r ow, and t he s ums ar e added al ong t he diag onal s
t o obt ai n t he f inal pr oduct .
O O CT ^
e s
' ^ '
s
P
o s s
i bl e , we have t he cor r ect
meas ur ement s of its height and bas e in t he
phot og r aph.
Let us as s ume that t he height is 95 millimetr es and
t he bas e 19 millimetr es in t he phot og r aph. T hen we will
hav e t o t ake t he meas ur ement of t he bas e of t he real
tower whi ch we shall s uppos e is 15 met r es wide.
T he tower in the phot og r aph and the real t ower ar e
pr opor tional l y t he s ame, geometr ically . In ot her
wor ds , t he r atio bet ween t he height and t he bas e of t he
t ower in t he phot og r aph is t he s ame as that bet ween
t he height and t he bas e of t he real tower .
In t he phot og r aph it is 95 : 19 i.e. 5. S o the height of
t he f ower is 5 times gr eater t han t he base.
. . T he height of t he real t ower is:
15 x 5 = 75 Met r es
x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 3
5
= 243. We will hav e
M i M f U t o consider each g ame separ atel y , becaus e
each g ame may be won, lost or dr awn by one of t he
t eams . T her ef or e ther e ar e thr ee possibilities in every
g ame.
T he first g ame has t hr ee possibilities and f or each
one of these possibilities t he s econd g ame has t hr ee
possibilities. T her ef or e t her e ar e 9 possibl e f or ecasts
f or t he first t wo g ames .
177
For each of t he 9 f or ecasts of the s econd g ame, the
thir d g ame has 3 possibilities, whi ch mak es it 27
f or ecasts and s o on.
T her ef or e f or 5 g ames ther e ar e 243 possibilities.
Q Q * 7 7 ! 6 ! = 10! ; 5! 3! = 6! ; 3! 5! 7! = 10! ,
& L * / 2! 47! 4! = 48! ; 2! 287! 4! 3! = 288 !
T her e ar e many ot her s .
O O O Parallelogram: A Parallelogram is a
mi mi O r ectang l e whos e angles ar e no l onger right
angles, while its oppos i t e sides r emai n parallel and
equal , and its diag onal s still bisect t he par al l el og r am
i nt o t wo equal tr iangle ar eas. Howev er , its total ar ea
will alway s be less t han t he ar ea of t he r ectang l e f r om
whi ch it was f or med.
O O Q l
n
a r egular chess boar d ther e ar e 1296
mi m r ectangl es al together incl uding 8 by 8 outer
squar e.
r u n
^
s on
'y - Boat rises with t he tide.
rtQ 1 We mus t bear in mi nd that bot h pans are
MI O X geometr ical l y similar bodies . Si nce t he
bigger pan is eight times mor e capaci ous , all its linear
meas ur ement s mus t be t wo times gr eater , and it mus t
be twice bigger in height and br eadt h.
T he sur f ace mus t be 2 x 2 = 4 times gr eater , becaus e
the sur f ace of similar bodies ar e t o one anot her as the
s quar es of their linear meas ur ement s .
Si nce t he wallsides of the pens ar e of t he s ame
thicknes s , t he weight of t he pen woul d depend on the
size of its sur f ace. T her ef or e the answer is
T he bigger pan is f our times heavier .
178
Q Q Q 1728: T he Capt ai n is bound t o g o cr azy de-
O m* ciding the or der of r owing in the boat with s o
many possibilities on hand.
Whi chev er way y ou wor k out the pr obl em y ou
obt ai n this number 1728.
First of all let us cons i der t he str okeside men f irst.
T he f our th oar s man can be chos en f r om t he 3 who can
r ow on either side in 3 way s. A nd so when this f our t h
oar s man is chos en the f our str okeside oar s man can be
ar r ang ed in 4! ways. T her ef or e ther e are 3 x 4 ! way s of
ar r ang ing the str okeside.
Now let us consider t he bow side oar s men. T her e is
no choice of men her e, becaus e ther e are 2 bow side
oar s men and the 2 can r ow on either side. T hes e t wo
men can be ar r ang ed in 4! way s. Because, f or each
str okeside ar r ang ement any of the bow side
ar r ang ement s is possible.
T hus t he total number of ar r ang ement s is
3 x 4! x 4! = 72 x 24 = 1728
2 3 3 A p p r o x i m a t e l y 19 years.
2 3 4 0 t o nine pl aces of decimal s 2.71828 1828
9 Q F 1 April: A f emale fly lays 120 eggs. Mid- Apr il
120 flies will hat ch. Fe mal e s : 60
20 A pr i l : 60 f emale flies lay 120 eggs each Beg i nni ng of
May 60 x 120 = 7200 flies will hat ch.
Females: 3600
5 Ma y : 3600 f emale flies lay 120 eggs each.
Mi d- May 3600 x 120 = 43200 flies will hat ch.
Females: 216000
25 May : 216000 f emales flies lay 120 eggs each
Beg inning of J une 216000 x 120 =25920000
flies will hat ch. Fe mal e s : 12960000
179
14 J une : 12960000 f emale flies lay 120 eggs each End
of J une 12960000 x 120 = 15552000000 flies
will hatch. Females: 777600000
15 J ul y : 777600000 f emale flies lay 120 eggs each
Mi d- J ul y 777600000 x 120 = 93312000000
flies will hat ch. Fe mal e s : 46656000000
25 J ul y : 46656000000 f emale flies lay 120 eggs each
Beg inning of Aug us t 46656000000 x 120 =
559872000000 will hat ch.
Female flies: 27993600000000
13 A ug: 27993600000000 f emale flies lay 120 eggs
each. Last week of A ug us t 27993600000000
x 120 = 33592320000000 flies will hat ch.
J us t in one s ummer the number of flies that woul d
hat ch woul d be: 33592320000000
T aki ng each fly t o be 5 mm long, if they f or m a
straight line, t he distance cover ed woul d be
2,500000000 Kil ometr es 18 times l onger t han t he
distance f r om t he ear th t o t he s un.
C\ O 1 450 Cent i met r es . Suppos i ng the tree gr ows
M i u U x centimetr es each year. Heig ht of the tree
at t he end of six th year = (90 + 6x ) C m
Gr owt h in the s ev ent h year x = -g- (90 + 6x ) Cm
2
x = 10 + x
3
x = 30
T he height of t he tr ee at the end of t he twelf th year =
(90 + 12 x 30) C m = 450 C m
180
f
oo7
1 2 7 , 2 5 5
'
5 1 L
mi O / T his series is bei ng built up accor di ng t o t he
or der wher e t he act ual t er m = 2n - 1, with n being t he
number of t er m.
Eg .,
1st T er m = 2
1
- 1 = 2 - 1 = 1
2nd T er m = 2
2
- 1 = 4 - 1 = 3
3r d T er m = 2
3
- 1 = 8 - 1 = 7
and s o on
O O O L e t us as s ume t hat the aver age hieght of
M t J O m a n is 175 cm. Let us t ake R as t he r adius
of t he ear t h. T hen we hav e:
2 x 3. 1 4 x (R + 175) - (2 x 3.14 x R) = 2 x 3 . 1 4 x 1 7 5 =
1100 C m
1100 C m = 11 Met r es
T he str ang e thing y ou woul d notice in t he pr obl em is
t he r esult in no way depends on t he r adius of t he ear th.
( 1 Q Q We must, first of all, rotate the small squar e so
M i J that its sides bisect t he sides of t he lar ge
s quar e.
T hus t he ov er l apping ar ea is % of the ar ea of t he
lar ge s quar e.
1 289
( _ ) (17)2 =
=
72y
4
4 4
f\ A /\ Car at . Car at is t he s t andar d legal weight f or
the sale of Di amonds , pr ecious s t ones and
pr eci ous metal s, since 1878.
A Car at originally weig hed 3- 1/3 grains but now it
weighs 3- 1/5 grains. 150 Car at s mak e the T r oy ounce
of 480 grains.
181
Cy A Checking Addition And Multiplication:
^ H r X T he met hod of casting out the nines to
check t h^ accur acy of addi t i ons and mul tipl ications
was i nt r oduced about a t hous and years ag o by the
A r abs .
T o check pr oduct of a mul tipl ication nines ar e'Cas t
out ' of each f actor in t he mul tipl ication equat i on, t he
r emainder s ar e t hen mul tipl ied and nines ar e 'Cas t out '
again. T he r emai nder s , if they ar e unequal at this
stage, the mul tipl ication is incor r ect.
Howev er , it does not f ollow that if the r emai nder s
ar e equal t he mul tipl ication is cor r ect. But it s hows
that the chances ar e that it is cor r ect. S o, t he pr ocess
of 'Cas t i ng out nines' has only a limited appl ication.
'Cas t i ng out nines ' can be used t o check f or
mistakes in t he addi t i on of number s also, in t he s ame
manner .
<y A Cy 773, 2753: In this s equence we hav e t o try
MI AMI all t he combi nat i ons of mat hemat i cal
oper ations we k now until we f ind the or der whi ch
satisfies the s equence. T he or der in this case is:
T n = 3 T n - 1 + 2 T n - 2
.\ T7= 3 x 2 1 7 + 2 x 6 1 = 773
243 ---- = 1 ---
4 + 4 v T
4 + 4 + 4
= 6
4 x 4 44
- 4 = 7 = 2
4 + 4 4
4 + 4 + 4
= 3 (4 x 4) - (4 + 4) = 8
4
182
4
x 4 = 4 4 + 4 + = 9
4 4
(4 x 4 ) + 4 _ 4 4 - 4
5 10
i
+
l = n
.4 4
44 + 4
= 12
4
44
- \ f T = 13
4 + 4 + 4 + \ /4= 14
44
+ 4 = 1 5
4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 1 6
( 4 x 4 ) + = 1 7
4
4 x 4 + = 1 8
v 4
4! - ( 4 + Jj- ) = 19
183
4 x 4
= 20
C% A A Our hol iday lasted for 18 day s. First of
Mi T ' T ' a l l let us see how many possible types
of day s ther e coul d be. T her e coul d only be thr ee s uch
as :
a) Rai n in t he mor ni ng and fine in t he af t er noon
b) Fi ne in t he mor ni ng and fine in t he af t er noon
c) Fine in t he mor ni ng and rain in the af t er noon
Let us as s ume t he number of s uch day s in each
categor y be a, b and c.
T hen: Numbe r of day s on which r ain falls = a + c =
Number of day s with f ine mor ni ng s = b + c = 11
Number of day s with f ine af ter noons = a + b = 12
We der ive f r om these equations t hat :
a = 7, b = 5, c = 6
T her ef or e t he number of day s on holiday is:
Q y l r Neit her . T her e is s ame amount in each.
Let us as s ume:
a = amount of or ang eade in glass at start
b = amount of or ang eade first tr ansf er r ed,
c = amount of or ang eade tr ansf er r ed s econd time
d = amount of L emonade tr ansf er r ed to or ang eade
Now we mus t s how t hat t he amount of L emonade in
or ang eade equal s t he amount of or ang eade in the
L emonade or , in t er ms of a, b, c, d we mus t s how t hat :
13
7 + 5 + 6 + 18
Time
St ar t
1st T r ansf er
2nd T r ansf er
d = b - c
Amount of Orangeade in Glass
a
a - b
(a - b) + (c + d)
184
T he star ting amount , a, mus t equal the f inal amount
af ter the s econd tr ansf er .
.'. a = (a - b) + c + d or d = b - c
246 -i =
2
24
16777216
Cy A ^ 1 googolplex = 10 googol = 1 f ollowed by
/ a googol of zer oes = 100 000 000 000 000
000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
000 000 00
Cy A O 5- 5/11 mi nut es .past 7.
M i OE x a c t l y at 7 O'cl ock the mi nut e hand i s 35
divisions behi nd the hour hand. In or der to be oppos i t e
one anot her the mi nut e hand mus t gain 5 divisions on
t he hour hand.
Howev er , t he mi nut e hand gains 35 divisions i n 60
tr ue minut es .
A nd ther ef or e the mi nut e hand gains 5 divisions in
5- 5/11 tr ue mi nut es .
C% A Q Se c ant : Whe n a straight line cut s any cur v e
* at t wo distinct points, it is called a Secant .
Howev er , Secant is not t he s ame as tang ent. T ang ent ,
no matter how far it is pr oduced either way , has only
one point in common with the cur ve.
^ f j Q C a r d i o i d >
s a
cur v e s haped like a hear t.
C\ (T Ramu is 18 years old.
vJ JL 24 - x y ear s ag o L aks hmi was x years ol d
and now she is 24.
24 - x years ag o Ra mu was x - (24 - x ) y ear s ol d.
185
T oday he is x y ear s ol d.
24 = 2 (2x - 24)
. - . x = 8
O P O Cube : A hex ahedr on is a solid f igure whi ch
mi vJmi has six f aces. A nd a regular hex ahedr on is
a cube, becaus e it has six equal f aces.
Q C Q Ins c r i be d: In a pol y g on when each side is
mi % J k J tangential to a circle, the circle is said t o
be inscr ibed in a pol y g on.
T he inscr ibed circle is obt ai ned by bisecting t he
angles of t he tr iangle, wher e the bisector s pas s
t hr oug h a c ommon point whi ch is the centr e of t he
inscr ibed circle.
1
Si n 45 = Cot 45 1
Cos 45 ~ Sec 45 v T
V2
T an 45 1 Cs c 45 V T "
3
255
5 10
8
186
O f T / I S e v e n: T he best way t o f ind t he s ol ut i on t o
4 6 1 C J O this pr obl em is t o mak e a pr actical
ex per iment.
Mak e a vertical cut in the tree t r unk and peel off t he
t r unk t o f or m a l ong r ectangle. A cr os s t he r ectangl e
dr aw 5 parallel lines t o r epr esent t he j as mi ne and
anot her parallel line f or t he rose. T hen y ou will be abl e
t o see t he seven cr ossing positions.
T he first die may fall in six dif f erent
m i O I way s. Wi t h each of these way s t her e ar e 6
possibilities for the s econd die.
Let us as s ume t he number who compl ai ned about
f ood only be x .
T hos e with compl ai nt s = 160
258
p
259
P = 2q - 5
Food
Delays Everywhere
Lack of facilities.
.'. 2x + 80 160
40
4
187
Fr om t he t op cl ockwise: 10, 1, 11, 7, 4, 6,
L i O U l 2 , 2, 8, 5, 9, 3.
Cy "J Ce nt r oi d: T he three times f r om a vertex to
A t he mid- point of the opposite side (Med-
ians) of a tr iangle pass t hr oug h a common point called
the Cent r oi d of t he triangle. T he ter m is der ived f r om
'Cent r e' and 'Oi d' the centr e of gravity of a tr iangular
l amina is at this point.
Cy LCy Approximating an area: Simpson's rule is
M U i put t o use when t he ar ea is divided i nt o any
even number of parallel strips of equal br eadt h.
O L Q
2 4 2 0 F e e t
: 1100 ft. x ft.
IT SecT " " ( l W S i ^
T hen x = 2420
O / I A F r us t r um: T he technical tr ansl ation of
Mf U ^' F r u s t r u m ' woul d be 'a piece br oken of f .
Howev er it can be used t o ref er t o that
por tion of a r egular solid left af ter cutting off t he upper
par t by a pl ane parallel t o the base. It can al so be used
t o descr ibe t he por tion inter cepted between any t wo
planes.
Cy C Parallel of Lat i t ude : A small circle dr awn
mUi J t hr oug h places of the s ame l atitude, it is
parallel t o t he equat or and at right angles t o the ear th's
ax is or the line j oining the Nor t h and S out h Poles.
Cy T he f ar mer was pointing at the basket with 29
t m Q U eggs. Chi ck en eggs were in the basket
mar ked 23, 12 and 5. Duck eggs wer e in t he basket
mar ked 14 and 6.
T o verify the answer
188
23 + 12 + 5 + 40 chi cken eggs af ter the t r ans act i on
and 14 + 6 = duck eggs.
T her e were twice as many chicken eggs as duck
eggs, as the pr obl em said.
267
K
O / I He x ag on: T he open end of the bees cell
M i O O h a s a hex ag onal shape. T his is a f amiliar
sight to all of us.
T he hex ag on of the bee's cell is one of the few
regular shapes that can compl etel y fill the s pace on a
bee f r ame. One can't but hel pr eachi ng the concl us i on
that bees have a cer tain geometr ical apt i t ude or sense.
C\ / I Q9 . 4 0 and 41 Metres : To check the solu-
tion: Squar e the length of the per pendicular ,
subtr act 1 and divide by 2, and the result is
the length of the base. A dd 1 t o this and this s ame
f or mul a applies when the per pendicul ar is any odd
number and these combi nat i ons of number s are
s ometimes called 'Py t hog or ean' series.'
T his met hod is der ived f r om the t heor em of
Py thag or as concer ni ng t he right angled triangle.
H
2
= B
2
+ p
2
(B + l )
2
= B
2
+ P
2
28+ 1 = P
2
9
2
- 1
In this case B = n = 40 Metr es
We are told that H = B + 1
H = 41 Metr es.
189
Cy ^ / \ Pe dal : T his triangle is also called the
h i / v f Or t hocent r i c triangle.
If A D, BE and CF ar e t he per pendicul ar s dr opped f r om
t he ver tices of t he triangle A B C t o the oppos i t e sides,
then the tr iangle DEF is the pedal triangle.
T he three per pendi cul ar s pass t hr oug h a common
point called t he Or t hocent r e.
^ T he first piece can be placed in any of t he 64
mi / X s quar es . In other wor ds, ther e ar e 64 way s
of pl acing it. Now r emains 63 squar es for the s econd
piece, that is t o any one of t he 64 positions of t he first
piece we can add the 63 positions t o the s econd.
. .T her e ar e 64 x 63 = 4032 dif f erent positions in
which t wo pieces may be pl aced on a dr aug ht boar d.
Pas cal ' s : Pascal built up the r ows of
I Numer al 11,121,1331,14641, etc. that canbe
enclosed by a tr iangle. T hese numer al s not only give
the coef f icients f or cer tain binomial ex pans i ons , and
can also be us ed t o solve pr obl ems in Statistics dealing
with pr obability .
2 y 3 12 x 5 = 60 f aces.
Cy ^ A A t the r ate of Re. 1/- for ten weeks we f igure
mi / T "t ha t t he amount of interest f or one year
woul d be Rs . 5. 20. But I do not have the use of my
Rs. 10/- for t he entir e per iod of time but on the
average j ust half that amount . S o we concl ude that I
paid Rs .5.20 t o use Rs.5/- for one year.
5.2 104
= =104%
5 100
.'. T he tr ue simple annual interest is 104%.
190
f y ^ (T T his j ob can be done simply by openi ng up
& i \ J only thr ee links t he links of one s ection,
and j oining the ends of t he other f our sections with
t hem.
O ^ T / ^ A r c of a Cy c l oi d: T he Ber noul l is are
mi / O r esponsible for the name of the pr obl em.
A nd it refers t o the well k nown br achi s t ochr ome
pr obl em or the cur v e on which a body des cendi ng to a
given point under t he action of gravity will r each it in
the shor test time.
O ^ ^ T he 9th tr iangul ar number = S um of first 9
mi / / natur al number s .
T he 10th tr iangul ar number = S um of first 10 nat ur al
number s .
T he nt h tr iangul ar number = S um of first n nat ur al
number s = n (n + 1)
2
9 7 0 3 , 10, 17, 24, 3 1 , 3 8 , 4 5 , 5 2 , 5 4 and 66. T he
MI / O series f or med is an ar ithmetical prog-
gression with a c ommon dif f erence of 7.
s quar e met r e equal s 1000 s quar e milli-
Mf / metr es. One t hous and millimetr e s quar es
pl aced one al ongside t he other will str etch out 1
metr e.
. .1000 squar es will be 1000 metr es l ong
In other wor ds 1000 kil ometr es l ong .
O Q f | 4 4 Ce nt i me t r e s : Many a time steel bar s
m i O U ar e used as rollers in this way.
T he safe mov es f or war d twice the l eng th of the
cir cumf er ence of one of the steel bar s.
191
.'.T his di s t ance is 2.22.7
Cm.
7
*
A nd this is 44 Cent imet r es .
T hr ee or f or that mat t er any number of rollers under
the saf e will mov e the safe 44 centimetr es f or war d.
In or der t o see the pr obl em mor e clearly, let us
consider this pr obl em in t wo par ts:
(a) T he mot i on f or war d caused by one r evolution of
t he rollers if they were rolling off t he g r ound.
(b) T he mot i on f or war d of the centr es of the rollers
becaus e they themselves roll f or war d on the
g r ound.
T he mot i on amount s to 22 centimetr es in bot h
cases. So, t he total mov ement of t he safe
mount ed on the rolling rollers is 44 centimetr es.
O O I 630 Litre s : Let us as s ume x is the capacity
m t O X of t he s econd barrel.
T hen our equat i on will be:
5 4
x 336 = x X
6 9
. 5 x 336 x 9
. . X = = 630
6 x 1 x 4
( 1 Q Q T r i p o d s ar e s o conv enient for land survey-
m O m ing i ns t r ument s and phot og r aphi c camer as ,
becaus e t he t r i pod stands firmly on thr ee legs. T he
thr ee legs of a tr ipod always rest on the f loor because
t hr oug h any thr ee points of space ther e can pass one
192
pl ane. A nd only one. T he r eason is purely geometr ical
and not phy sical.
Cy O O 56 women and 40 men: T o solve this
i O O pr obl em we need t o put the s tor y - down in
mat hemat i cal s y mbol s .
W- 16 = M
7 W - 32 = 9 M
Mul tipl y ing line 1 by 9, we obt ai n:
9 W - 144 = 9 M
T aki ng away line 2 f r om line 3 we g et:
2W - 112 = 0
W = 5 6
M = 4 0
O Q / f S quar e : t he 'Gr eat Squar e of Peg as us '
m 0 4 " s t ands out distinctly in a very obv i ous s hape
in the heavens, becaus e all f our s tand at t he cor ner s
ar e bright and ther e ar e no bright stars within t he
squar e.
Dur i ng t he per iod of t he Sept ember equi nox , it is
clearly seen in the nor t her n hemispher e al mos t due
s out h at mi dni g ht .
Cy O (T 18. Rajiv scor es 50 whilst Sanj iv scor es
m OCJ 4 0 , Sanj iv scor es 50 whilst Vijay scor es 40
Sanj iv scor es 40 whilst Vijay scor es
40 x 40
= 32
50
.'. Rajiv scor es 50 whilst Sanj iv scor es 40 and whilst
Vijay scor es 32.
.'. Rajiv can give 18 points t o Vijay.
C% Q T her e ar e altogether 70 ways of g oing f r om
^ O O a to B.
193
O O H T About Nine Centimetres: The needle
w O / mov es f r om t he out er mos t g r oov e t o the
i nner mos t g r oov e in an ar c. T he r adius of this ar c is the
length of t he pi ck- up ar m.
( 1 Q Q Gr eat es t : L og 2 + L og 4: Smal l es t : L og
^ 0 0 6 + L og 3
L og (2 + 4) = L og 6
L og 2 + L og 4 = L og ( 2 x 4 ) = L og 8
L og (6 - 3) = L og 3
L og 6 - L og 3 = L og 6 - f- 3 = L og 2
L og 8 is t he gr eatest and L og 2 is t he least of these
values.
2 3 9 4 9 0 0
O Q / \ L eng t h of t he tr ain 80 metr es, L eng t h of t he
d ! j \ j t u n n e l 800 metr es.
3
Leng t h of t he tr ain= 96 x K m = 80 metr es
60 x 60
L eng t h of t he t unnel = K m = 800 metr es.
60 x 60
Q Q - I Four . Mos t peopl e t hi nk t he answer is
X. thr ee, becaus e it is easy t o cr eate an
equilater al tr iangle with a tree pl ant ed on each cor ner .
But if t he l and had j ust t he right cont our s , a f our t h tree
mig ht be pl ant ed in a valley or on a hill, f or ming a
py r ami d s hape abov e or bel ow the cent r e of the
triangle in a spot t hat woul d maint ain the equidis t ance.
O Q O Prime Numbers: Erastosthenes, a contem-
m 37mi por ar y of A r chi medes , cons t r uct ed an instr-
194
ument t o dupl i cat e a cube and gave a l abor i ous
met hod of cons t r uct i ng a tabl e of pr i me number s . T his
is called the 'Sieve of Er as tos thenes .'
O Q / f H- T he v al ue of t he given series is approx i-
m Zr * matel y 0.76. A nd when t wo mor e t er ms ar e
added t he val ue appr ox i mat es t o 0.77. Whe n we
mul tipl y these val ues by 4, we get 3.04 and 3.08. If this
is r epeat ed indef initely we shall appr oach t he v al ue of
3.14.
3.14 is the val ue of II cor r ect t o t wo pl aces of
deci mal s .
O Q C 2 6 X 25 X 4 = 15600. T his is an ex ampl e
y J of 'Per mut at i on of 26 dif f erent letters t aken
3 at a time'. It is wr itten in mat hemat i cal l ang uag e as
26 p
3
It is easy t o ar r ive at this cal cul ation really, when
ex pr essed in t er ms of f actor ials. It is t he r esult of
dividing f actor ial 26 by f actor ial (26 - 3).
Gener al l y s peaki ng t he number of per mut at i ons of n
thing s if only r ar e t aken at any one t i me is or f actor ial n
div ided by f actor ial (n - r ) n P
r
195
2 9 6
H o u r s - one hour s fills 1//2 K fills
1/3 and Y empt i es 1/5 of the cister n.
1 1 1
. '. Wi t h all the pipes wor ki ng ( + )
2 3 5
19
Or of t he cister n is filled in one hour .
30
30
.".With all t he pipes wor ki ng ( )
30
30
of t he cister n is filled in ( ) hour s .
297
1024/11 times.
19
R has S has
left left
End of one dr i nk y
2
%
End of t wo dr i nks ^
11. 2
1 0
3
End of three drinks % (V
2
)
3
End of f our dr i nks (V
2
)
4
5
End of five dr inks (M>)
5
196
End of six dr inks O/2)
6
7
= End of seven dr i nks (V2)
7
11 11 8
End of eight drinks (
l
A)
%
9
End of nine dr inks OA)
9
10
End of t en dr inks (
l
/
2
)
10
11
f ) f | Q 180 Me t r e s : T he linear meas ur ement s of
t he obj ect ar e t o t he cor r es pondi ng
meas ur ement s of t he pi ct ur e as t he di s t ance of t he
obj ect f r om t he lens is t o t he dept h 6f t he camer a.
Let X be t he height of t he pl ane, in met r es . T hen we
come t o t he f ollowing pr opor t i on:
12000: 8 = X : 0, 12
. '. X = 180 met r es
H Q Q 7 1 . 4 Met r es : Sanj iv r uns 1470 metr es
J T J ^ while V ij ay r uns 1400 metr es.
A t t he s ame r ate Sanj iv r uns 1500 met r es whilst
V ij ay r uns
1500 x 1400
w
Met r es
1470
or 1428.6 met r es
Hence Sanj iv oug ht t o beat Vijay by 71.4 metr es.
197
0 /\ /\ 1 2 0 : T his pr obl em is an ex ampl e of t he
O U U mu l t i p l i c a t i v e pr inciple. Her e ther e ar e
12 way s of choos i ng the Secr etar y . Wi t h each of these
way s it is possibl e t o choos e the J oi nt Secr etar y in 10
ways. T he par ticul ar woman who is chos en as t he
J oi nt Secr etar y is not deter mined by t he choi ce of t he
Secr etar y . T he choice of each is made i ndependent l y
and in succession. T her ef or e t he total number of
possibilities is t he pr oduct of the t wo possibilities.
O f ^ My pl ane did not fly al ong the cont our s of a
O v r - L s quar e becaus e t he ear t h is r ound and t he
mer idians conv er g e at the pole.
T her ef or e when I flew 500 k m al ong t he par allel, 500
kil ometr es nor t h of Lening r ad l atitude, my pl ane
cover ed mor e degr ees g oing eastwar d t han it did when
it was r et ur ni ng al ong Lening r ad l atitude. A s a r esult,
my aircraf t compl et ed its flight east of Leni ng r ad.
Now t he ques t i on is, how many ki l omet r es ?
T hat can be easily cal cul ated.
T he di ag r am al so s hows t he r out e t aken by my
aircraf t A B CD.
N is t he Nor t h Pol e wher e mer idians A B and D C
meet.
My pl ane first flew 500 k m nor t hwar d i.e. al ong
mer idian A N. Si nce t he degr ee of a mer i di an is 111
kil ometr es l ong , t he 500 kil ometr e l ong ar c of t he
mer idian is equal t o 500: 111 = 45\
Leni ng r ad lies on t he 60th parallel. T her ef or e B is on
60 + 4 5' = 64 5'.
T he aircraf t t hen flew eastwar d i.e. al ong t he B C
parallel, cover ing 500 kilometr es.
T he l eng th of one degr ee of this par allel is equal t o 48
kil ometr es.
T her ef or e, we can easily det er mi ne how many
degr ees my aircraf t cover ed in its eastwar d f l ig ht: 5 00:
48 + 104\
198
Cont i nui ng my air cr af t flew s out hwar d i.e. al ong
mer idian CD, and hav ing cover ed 500 k m r et ur ned t o
t he Leni ng r ad par allel. T hen the way lay wes t war d i.e.
al ong D. A .
Obv i ous l y , the 500 kil ometr es al ong DA ar e less
t han t he distance bet ween A and D.
Howev er ther e ar e as many degr ees in A D as in B C,
i.e. 104'. But t he l eng th of 1 at t he 60th,parallel equal s
55.5 kil ometr es.
Hence the di s t ance between A and D is equal t o 55.5
x 10.4 = 577 kil ometr es.
S o my pl ane coul d not have very well l anded in
Leni ng r ad. It l anded 77 kil ometr es away , on L ak e
Lag oda.
199
SHAKUNTALA DEVI