Mat ch your wi t s wi t h t he

" human comput er " .

PUZZLES TO PUZZLE
YOU
S h a k u n t a i a D e v i
ORI ENT ^PAPERBACKS
PozziestoPuzzleYou
Mathematics is not always hard,
mind-bogglingstuff, it canalsobesimple,
interestinganddelightful. Many famous
mathematicians areknowntobedevotedto
peg-jumpingpuzzles, andit is perhaps this kindcf
play that leads themontoscientific discoveries.
Thepuzzles presentedinthis book
areby noneother thantheworld-renowned
mathematical prodigy, ShakuntalaDevi.
Thesearemeant todevelopone's wit
andsharpenhis intellectual faculties.
Thereis adventure, excitement and
delight inthemandalsopurposefni entertainment.
f
ShakuntalaDevi has beenregarded
by theWest as an"authentic heroine
of thetwentiethcentury". Shecalculates faster
thanthefastest computer, andher feats have
flabbergastedthosewho havewitnessedthem.
Shealsowritesonsubjects as variedas
mathematics, crimeandhomosexuality.
By thesameauthor in
ORIENT PAPERBACKS

Perfect Murder
PUZZLES TO
PUZZLE YOU
ORI ENT PAPERBACKS
ShakuntalaDevi
First Published: 1976
Reprinted : 1980
Puzzles toPuzzleYou
ShakuntalaDevi, 1979
Publishedby
Orient Paperbacks
(A Divisionof VisionBooks PrivateLimited)
36-C, Connaught Place, NewDelhi 110001
PRINTEDININDIA
at BatraArt Printer!
A 86/1, NarainaIndustrial Area, PhaseI
NewDeIhi-110028
'Amusement is oneof thefields of
appliedmathematics
W. F. White
i
i
I
PREFACE
What is mathematics? It is only asystematic effort
of solvingpuzzles posedby nature.
Recreational mathematics, inaway, is puremathe-
matics andit is oftendifficult todistinguish puremathe-
matics fromrecreational mathematics. However, it may
alsobeconsidered appliedmathematics inthesenseit
satisfies the humanneedfor intellectual play. And
solvingwits andpuzzles, inaway, helps to developwit
andingenuity.
Thepedagogic valueof recreational mathematics is
nowwidely recognisedandcreativemathematicians are
never embarrassedtoshowtheir interest inrecreational
topics. Today onefinds anincreasingemphasis onit in
journa's publishedfor mathematical instructors andin
moderntext books.
It is saidthat thefamous mathematician Leibniz
devotedconsiderabletimetothestudy of peg-jumping
puzzles. Andit is alsoawell knownfact that Prof.
Albert Einstein's bookshelf was stackedwithbooks on
mathematical games andpuzzles. It is creativethoughts
bestowed onsuchmathematical play, that has ledmany
agreat mindtoscientific discoveries.
Whilesolvingof themathematical puzzles andriddles
may providepleasant relaxation to some, undoubtedly
theseitems haveaway of hookingthestudents' interest
as littleelsecan.
So ;neof thepuzzles I amposinginthefollowing
7
pages showvery elegant facts andproofs inmathematics.
Many who, consider thesubject dull andboringwill see
that somefacts of mathematics canbequitesimple, in-
terestingandevenbeautiful. Thesearenot riddles made
todeceive, or nonsensical puzzles whicharemadeto
teasethemindwithout purpose. Thepuzzles included
inthis book arestraightforward exercises inreasonand
statement of facts fromwhichapersonwithreasonably
agilemindcanproceedtoalogical conclusion.
I haveno doubt my readers will findadventure, ex-
citement, anddelight incracking the clean, sharply
defined, andmysterious order that underly thepuzzles,
andexperienceenormous intellectual entertainment.
ShakuntalaDevi
8
J)uzzlcs
1.
TALL MEN NEXT DOOR
Next door tomelivefour brothers of different heights.
Their averageheight is 74inches, andthedifferencein
heipht amongthefirst threemenis two inches/'The
difference between the thirdandthefourthmanis
six inches.
Canyoutell howtall is eachbrother?
2. A MATTER OF TIME
Fifty minutes ago if it was four times as many minutes
past three o'clock, howmany minutes is it until six
o'cfock?
11
3.
BROTHERS ANDSISTERS
A family I knowhas several children. Eachboy in
this family has as many suters as brothers but eachof
thegirls has twiceas many brothers as sisters.
Howmany brothers andsisters arethere?
4. AROUNDTHE EQUATOR
Two identical trains, at theequator start travelling
round theworldinoppositedirections. They start to-
gether, runat thesamespeedand are on different
tracks.
Whichtrainwill wear out its wheel treads first?
5. OVER THE GOLDENGATE
While in San Franciscosometimeback, I hired a
car todriveover theGoldenGatebridge. 1started in
the; fternoonwhentherewas no traffic rush. So I
could do 40miles anhour. Whilereturning, however,
I got caught inthetraffic rushandI couldonly manage
todriveat aspeedof 25miles anhour.
What wasmyaveragespeedfor theroundtrip?
12
6.
BICYCLE THIEVES
A friendof mineruns abicycleshopandhenarrated
to methis followingstory:
A man, who lookedlikeatourist, cameto his shop
oneday andbought abicyclefromhimfor Rs. 350.
Thecost priceof thebicyclewas Rs. 300. So my
friendwas happy that hehadmadeaprofit of Rs. 50
onthesale. However, at thetimeof settlingthebill, the
tourist offeredto pay intravellers cheques as hehadno
cashmoney withhim. My friendhesitated. Hehad
no arrangements withthebanks to encash travellers
cheques. But herememberedthat theshopkeeper next
door hadsuchaprovision, andso hetook thecheques
to his friendnext door andgot cashfromhim.
Thetravellers cheques were^11madeout for Rs. 100
eachandso hehadtakenfour cheques fromthetourist
totallingto Rs. 400! Onencashingthemmy friend
paidback thetourist thebalanceof Rs. 50.
Thetourist happily climbedthebicycleandpedalled
away whistlingatune.
However, thenext morningmy friend's neighbour, who
hadtakenthetravellers cheques to thebank, calledon
himandreturningthecheques whichhadprovedvalue-
less demandedtherefundof his money. My friend
quietly refundedthemoney to his neighbour andtried
to tracethetourist who hadgivenhimthebadcheques
andtakenaway his bicycle. But thetourist couldnot
befound.
Howmuchdidmy friendlosealtogether inthis un-
fortunatetransaction?
13
7. THE DIGITS ANDSQUARE NUMBERS
All theninedigits arearrangedhereso as to form
four squarenumbers:
9, 81, 324, 576
Howwouldyouput themtogether so as to forma
singlesmallest possiblesquarenumber andasinglelargest
possiblesquarenumber?
8. THE BUS NUMBER
Whilevisitingasmall townintheUnitedStates, I lost
my overcoat inabus. WhenI reportedthematter to the
bus company I was askedthenumber of thebus. Though
I didnot remember theexact number I didremember
that thebus number badacertainpeculiarity about it.
Thenumber plateshowedthebus number as aperfect
squareandalso if theplatewas turnedupsidedown.? the
number wouldstill beaperfect squareof courseit was
not?
I cameto knowfromthebus company they hadonly
fivehundredbuses numberedfrom1to S00.
Fromthis I was ableto deducethebus number.
Canyoutell what was theother number?
14
9. THE HOUR HANDANDTHE MINUTE HAND
Weall knowthat thehour handandtheminutehand
onaclock travel at different speeds. However thereare
certainoccasions whenthehands areexactly oppositeeach
other. Canyougiveasimpleformulafor calculating
thetimes of theseoccasions?
10. TOCATCH A THIEF
Sometimeback whileinEnglandI watcheda case
inacriminal court. A manwas beingaccusedof having
stolencertainvaluablejewels andtryingto runaway
withthem, whenhewas caught by asmart policeofficer
who overtook him.
Incross examinationthelawyer for accusedaskedthe
policeofficer howhecouldcatchupwiththeaccusedwho
was already sevensteps aheadof him, whenhestarted to
runafter him. 'Yes Sir.' Theofficer replied. 'Hetakes
eight steps to every fiveof mine!
'But thenofficer,' interrogatedthelawyer, 'howdid
youever catchhim. if that was thecase?'
'That's easily explainedsir,' repliedtheofficer, *I got a
longer stride... two of my steps equal inlengthto his
five. So thenumber of steps 1requiredwerefewer than
his. andthis brought meto thespot whereI captured
him.'
A member of thejury, who was particularly goodat
quick calculations didsomecheckingandfiguredout
thenumber of steps thepoliceofficer must havetaken.
Canyoualso findout howmany steps theofficer *
neededto catchupwiththethief?
IS
11.
THE GONG
Supposingaclock takes 7seconds to strike7, how
longdoes it takefor thesameclock tostrike10?
12. SOMETHINGFOR THE MARMALADE
A littlegirl I knowsells orange^fromdoor todoor.
Oneday whileonher rounds shesoldi an orange
morethanhalf her oranges tothefirst customer. To the
secondcustomer shesoldi anorangemorethan half of
theremainder andtothethirdandthelast customer she
soldi anorangemorethanhalf shenowhad, leavingher
none.
Canyoutell thenumber of oranges sheoriginally had?
Oh, by theway, shenever hadtocut anorange.
16
13. THE COUNTERFEIT NOTE
Whilewalkingdownthestreet, onemorning, I founda
hundredrupeenoteonthefootpath. I pickedit up,
notedthenumber andtook it home.
Intheafternoontheplumber calledonmeto collect
his bill. As I hadno other money at home, I settled his
account withthehundredrupeenoteI hadfound. Later
I cameto knowthat theplumber paidthenoteto his
milkmanto settlehis monthly account, who paidit to his
tailor for thegarments hehadhadmade.
Thetailor inturnusedthemoney to buy an old
sewingmachine, fromawomanwho lives inmy neigh-
bourhood. This womanincidentally, had borrowed a
hundredrupees frommesometimeback to buy apressure
cooker. She, rememberingthat sheowedmeahundred
rupees, cameandpaidthedebt.
I recognisedthenoteas theoneI hadfoundonthe
footpath, andoncareful examinationI discoveredthat the
bill was counterfeit.
Howmuchwas lost inthewholetransactionandby
whom?
14. COTTON OR GOLD
Whichwouldyousay is heavier, apoundof cotton
or apoundof gold?
1?
15, NUTS FOR THE NUTS
Last timeI visitedafriend's farmnear Bangalorehe
gavemeabagcontaining1000peanuts. Fromthis I took
out 230peanuts for useinmy ownhomeandgave
away thebagwiththeremainder of peanuts tothreelittle
brothers who liveinmy neighbourhoodandtoldthemto
distributethenuts betweenthemselves inproportion to
their agesrwhichtogether amountedto\1\ years.
Tinku, RinkuandJojo, thethreebrothers, divided
thenuts inthefollowingmanner:
As oftenas Tinkutook four Rinkutook threeandas
oftenas Tinkutook six Jojotook seven.
Withthis datacanyoufindout what weretherespec-
tiveages of theboys andhowmany nuts eachgot?
16. THE WEDDINGANNIVERSARY
Recently I attendedthe twelfth wedding anniversary
celebrations of my good friends Mohini and Jayant.
BeamingwithprideJayant lookedat his wifeandcom-
mented, 'At thetimeweweremarriedMohini was ~
of my age, but nowsheis only ~e~th.
Webegantowonder howoldthecouplemust have
beeneachat thetimeof their marriage!
Canyoufigureit out?
18
17. I'LL GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE...
A wholesalemerchant cameto meoneday andposed
this problem. Every day inhis business hehas to weigh
amounts fromonepoundto onehundredandtwenty-
onepounds, to thenearest pound. To do this, what is
theminimumnumber of weights heneeds andhowheavy
shouldeachweight be7
18. THE BROKEN GLASSES
My friend Asha was throwing avery grandparty
andwantedto borrowfromme100wineglasses. I
decidedto sendthemthroughmy boy servant Harish.
Just to giveanincentiveto Harishto deliver theglasses
intact I offeredhim3paisefor every glass delivered
safely andthreatenedto forefeit 9paiseforvery glass he
broke.
Onsettlement HarishreceivedRs 2.40fromme.
Howmany glasses didHarishbreak?
19
19. 'THE PECULIAR NUMBER
Thereis anumber whichis very peculiar. This num-
ber is threetimes thesumof its digits. Canyoufindthe
number.
20. MAKE A CENTURY
Thereareelevendifferent ways of writing100intha
formof mixednumbers usingall theninedigits onceand
only once. Ten-of theways havetwo figuresintheinteg-
ral part of thenumber, but theeleventhexpressionhas
only onefigurethere.
Canyoufindall theelevenexpressions?
20
21. THE PERPLEXEDPOSTAL CLERK
My friendShubaworks inapost officeandshesells
stamps. Oneday amanwalkedinandslammingseventy-
fivepaiseonthecounter requested, 'Pleasegivemesome
2paisestamps, six times as many onepaisastamps, and
for therest of the amount makeup some 5paise
stamps.'
ThebewilderedShubathought for afewmoments
andfinally shehandedover theexact fulfilment of the
order to themanwithasmile.
Howwouldyouhavehandledthesituation?
22. THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSINGPAISA
Two women weresellingmarbles inthemarket place
oneat threefor apaiseandother at two for apaise.
Oneday bothof themwereobligedto returnhomewhen
eachhadthirty marbles unsold. They put together the
two lots of marbles andhandingthemover to afriend
askedher to sell themat fivefor 2paise. Accordingto
their calculation, after all, 3for onepaiseand2for one
paisewas exactly thesameas 5for 2paise.
But whenthetakings werehandedover to them, they
werebothmost surprised, becausetheentirelot together
hadfetchedonly 24paisel If however, they hadsold
their marbles separately they would havefetched 25
paise.
Nowwheredidtheonepaisego? Canyouexplain
themystery?
21
WALKINGBACK TOHAPPINESS
A man I know, who lives in my neighbourhood,
travels toChinsuraevery day for his work. His wife
drives himover toHowrahStationevery morningandin
theeveningexactly at 6P.M. shepicks himupback at
thestationandtakes himhome.
Oneday hewas let off at work anhour earlier, and
so hearrivedat theHowrahStationat 5P.M. insteadof
at 6. Hestartedwalkinghome. However hemet h
wifeenroutetothestationandgot intothecar. They
drovehomearriving10minutes earlier thanusual.
Howlongdidthemanhavetowalk, beforehewas
pickedupby his wife?
24. ON THE LINE
It is asmall townrailway station andthereare25
stations onthat line. At eachof the25stations the
passengers canget tickets for any of the others 24
stations.
Howmany different kinds of tickets do youthink
thebookingclerk has tokeep?
22
25.
THE LEGACY
Whenmy unclc inMaduradied recently, heleft a
will, instructinghis executors todividehis estateof Rs.
1,920,000inthis manner: Every sonshouldreceivethree
times as muchas adaughter, andthat every daughter
shouldget twiceas muchas their mother.
What is my aunt's share?
26. THE ROUNDTABLE
Wehave a circular dining table made of marble
whichhas comedownto us as afamily heirloom. Ws
alsohavesome beautiful bone-china saucers that I
recently brought fromJapan.
Our tabletopis fifteentimes thediameter of our
saucers whicharealsocircular. Wewouldliketoplace
thesaucers onthetableso that they neither over lapeach
other nor theedgeof thetable.
Howmany canweplaceinthis manner?^
23
27. DOWN THE ESCALATOR
Recently, whileinLondon, I decidedto walk down
theescalator of atubestation. I didsomequick cal-
culations inmy mind. I foundthat if I walk down
twenty-six steps, I requirethirty seconds to reachthe
bottom. However, if I amableto stepdownthirty-four
stairs I would only requireeighteenseconds to get
to thebottom.
If thetimeis measuredfromthemoment thetop
stepbegins to descendto thetimeI stepoff thelast step
at thebottom, canyoutell theheight of thestairway
insteps?
28. THE CHESS BOARD
Weall knowthat achess boardhas 64squares. This
canbecompletely coveredby 32cardboardrectangles,
eachcardboardcoveringjust 2squares.*
Supposingweremove2squares of thechess boardat
diagonally oppositecorners, canwecover themodified
boardwith31rectangles? If it canbedonehowcan
wedo it? And if it cannot be done, prove it
impossible.
24
29.
THE GAME OF CATS ANDMICE
A number of cats got together and decidedtokill
betweenthem999919mice. Every cat killedanequal
number of mice.
Howmany cats do youthink therewere?
Ob, by theway let meclarify just twopointsit is
not onecat killedthelot, becauseI havesaid'Cats' and
it is not-999919cats eachkilledonemouse, becauseI have
usedtheword'mice'.
I cangiveyoujust oneclueeachcat killedmore
micethantherewerecats.
30. THE WHEELS
A friendof mine in Bangaloreowns ahorse-driven
carriage. It was foundthat theforewheels of thecarriage
makefour morerevolutions thanthehindwheel ingoing
96feet. However, it was alsofoundthat ijf thecircum-
ferenceof theforewheel werej- as great andof thehind
wheel ~ as great, thentheforewheel wouldmakeonly
2revolutions morethanthehindwheel ingoingthesame
distanceof %feet.
Canyoufindthecircumferenceof eachwheel?
25
31. BLOWHOT BLOWCOLD
It is amatter of commonknowledgethat 0C is the
sameas 32F. It is alsoaknownfact that 100C equals
212F. But thereis & temperaturethat gives thesame
readingonbothCentigradeandFahrenheit scales.
Canyoufindthis temperature?
32. THE LLAMA RACE
Recently, whileI was inaholiday resort inPeru I
watchedavery interestingspectacle. Two gentlemenby
thenameof Sr. Guittierez andSr. Ibanez decidedto have
aLlamaraceover themilecourseonthebeachsands.
They requestedmeandsomeof my other friends whom
I hadmet at theresort toact as thejudges. Westationed
ourselves at different points onthecourse, whichwas
markedoff inquarter miles.
But, thetwoLlamas, beinggoodfriends decidednot
topart company, andrantogether thewholeway. How-
ever, wethejudges, noted withinterest thefollowing
results:
TheLlamas ranthefirst threequarters insix and
threequarters minutes. They took thesametimeto
runthefirst half mileas thesecondhalf. Andthey ran
thethird quarter inexactly thesametimeas thelast
quarter.
Fromtheseresults I becamevery muchinterestedin
findingout just howlongit took thosetwoLlamas to
runthewholemile.
Canyoufindout theanswer?
26
33. THE SHATTEREDCLOCK
A clock with thehours roundthe face in Roman
block numerals, as illustratedinthesketch
fell down, and thedial brokeinto four parts. The
numerals ineachpart inevery casesummedtoatotal
of 20.
Canyoushowhowthefour parts of theclock face
was broken?
27
34. THE PAINTEDWINDOW
My roomhas asquarewindowof 4feet across and 4
feet down. I decidedto get only half theareaof the
windowpainted. Evenafter thepaintingI foundthat
theclear part of thewindowstill remainedasquareand
still measured4feet fromtoptobottomand4feet from
sidetoside.
Howis it possible?
35. ANIMALS ON THE FARM
My friendwho owns afarmnear Bangalorehas five
droves of animals onhis farmconsistingof cows, sheep
andpigs withthesamenumber of animals in each
drove.
Oneday hedecidedtosell themall andsoldthemto
eight dealers.
Eachof theeight dealers bought thesamenumber of
animals andpaidat therateof Rs. 17for eachcow,
Rs. 2for eachsheepandRs. 2for eachpig.
My friend recievedfromthedealers intotal Rs.
301.
Howmany animals inall didhehaveandhowmany
of eachkind?
28
36. WHICH IS THE BETTER BARGAIN?
Recently whileshoppinginNewMarket inCalcutta,
I cameacross two very nicefrocks sellingat adiscount.
I decidedto buy oneof themfor my littlegirl Mammu.
Theshopkeeper offeredmeoneof thefrocks for Rs. 35
usually sellingfor ~of that priceandtheother onefor
Rs. 30usually selling for ~eof that price.
Of thetwo frocks whichonedo youthink is abetter
bargainandby howmuchper cent?
37. WALKINGALL THE WAY
Oneday I decidedto walk all theway fromBangalore
to Tumkur. I startedexactly at noon. AndsomeoneI
knowinTumkur decidedto walk all theway to Bangalore
fromTumkur andshestartedexactly at 2JP.M., onthe
sameday.
Wemet ontheBangalore-Tumkur Roadat fivepast
four, andwebothreachedour destinationat exactly the
sametime.
At what timedidwebotharrive?
29
38. , THE TRAIN ANDTHE CYCLIST
A railway track runs parallel to a roaduntil abend
brings theroadto alevel crossing. A cyclist rides along
to work alongtheroadevery day at aconstant speedof 12
miles per hour.
Henormally meets atrainthat travels inthesame
directionat thecrossing.
Oneday hewas lateby 25minutes andmet thetrain
6miles aheadof thelevel crossing. Canyoufigureout
thespeedof thetrain?
39. SOMETHINGFOR PROFIT
A friendof minebought ausedpressurecooker for
Rs. 60. Shesomehowdidnot findit useful andso when
afriendof hers offeredher Rs. 70shesoldit to her.
However, shefelt badafter sellingit anddecidedto buy
it back fromher friend' by offeringher Rs. 80. After
havingbought it ooceagainshefelt that shedidnot really
need thecooker. So shesoldit at theauctionfor
Rs. 90.
Howmuchprofit didshemake? Didsheat all make
any profit?
30
40. THE DIGITAL GAME
Thereis anumber, theseconddigit of whichis smaller
thanits first digit by 4, andif thenumber was dividedby
thedigits sum, thequotient wouldbe7.
Canyoufindthenumber?
41. THE NUMBER ANDTHE SQUARE
1
9 2
3
8 4
5 7 6
Inthe diagramabovethe numbers fromI to 9are
arrangedinasquareinsuchaway that thenumber inthe
secondrowis twicethat inthefirst rowandthenumber
inthebottomrowthreetimes that inthetoprow.
I amtoldthat therearethreeother ways of arranging
thenumbers so as to producethesameresult.
Canyoufindtheother threeways?
31
42. THE FAULTY MACHINE
A factory manufacturingflywheels for racingcars has
tenmachines tomakethem. Themanufacturer knows
thecorrect weight for aflywheel.
However, oneday oneof themachines begins topro-
ducefaulty partseither overweight or underweight.
Howcanthemanufacturer findthefaulty machinein
only twoweighings?
43. SQUARES ANDRIGHT ANGLES
Canyoumake2squares and 4rightangledtriangles
usingonly 8straight lines?
32
44. THE DISHONEST MERCHANT
Anunscrupulous trader decidedtomakesome extra
profit oo Coffee. Hebought onetypeof coffeepowder at
Rs. 32akiloandmixedsomeof it withabetter quality
of coffeepowder bought at Rs. 40akilo, andhesold
theblendat 43akilo. That gavehimaprofit of 25
per cent onthecost.
Howmany kilos of eachkindmust heusetomakea
blendof ahundredkilos weight?
45. FOR THE CHARITIES
Oneday whenI was walkingontheroadinNewDelhi,
agroupof boys approachedmefor donationfor their
poor boys' fund. I gavethemarupeemorethanhalf
themoney I hadinmy purse. I must havewalkedafew
moreyards whenagroupof womenapproaphedmefor
donations for anorpbange. I gavethemtworupees more
thanhalf themoney I hadinmy purse. Then, after a
fewyards I was approachedby areligious groupfor a
donationtothetemplethey werebuilding. .1gavethem
threerupees morethanhalf of what I hadinmy purse.
At last whenreturnedtomy hotel room, I foundthat
I hadonly onerupeeremaininginmy purse.
Howmuchmoney didI haveinmy pursewhenI
started?
33
46. THE NUMBER GAME
0
Theproduct of threeconsecutivenumbers whendivi-
dedby eachof theminturn, thesumof thethreequo-
tients will be74.
What arethenumbers?
47. THE SARI ANDTHE BLOUSE
I bought ft sari andablousefor Rs. 110at theNew
*Market. Thesari cost Rs. 100more thantheblouse,
howmuchdoes thesari cost?
34
48. WHEN WAS HE BORN?
Somemonths back, this year, I was waikingthrough
theCentral Park inNewYork.
I sawanintelligent lookinglittleboy playingall by
himself onthegrass. I decidedto talk to himandjust
as anexcuseto start theconversationI askedhimhis
age. A mischivious glint flickeredinhis eyes andhe
replied, 'Two days back I was tenyears old, andnext year
I shall bethirteen. If youknowwhat's today you'll be
ableto figureout my birthday andthat'll giveyoumy
age.' I lookedat himbewildered.
Howoldwas theboy?
49. the WEIGHT OF THE BLOCK
A cement block balances evenly inthescales withthree
quarters of apoundandthreequarters of ablock. What
is theweight of thewholeblock. /
37
50. LUCRATIVE BUSINESS
Two unemployedyoungmendecidedto start abusiness
together. They pooledintheir savings, whichcameto
Rs 2,000. They werebothlucky, their business pros-
peredandthey wereableto increase(heir capital by 50
per cent every threeyears.
Howmuchdidthey haveinall at theendof eighteen
years.
51. THE OLDSHIP
Someyears back I was travellingby acargo shipfrom
NewZealandto Tahiti. I was curious to look aroundthe
shiponeday andintheboiler roomI askedamanhow
oldtheshipwas. Hesmiledandrepliedmeinthis way:
'Theshipis twiceas oldas its boiler was whentheship
was as oldas theboiler is now. Andthecombinedage
of theshipandtheboiler is thirty years.'
Canyoufigureout what is theageof theshipandof
theboiler?
36
52- THE THREE CONTAINERS
We havethree containers whichhold19, 13and7
ounces of liquidrespectively. The19ouncecontainer is
empty but the13and7ouncecontainers arefull. How
canwemeasureout 10ounces by usingonly thethree
abovementionedcontainers?
53. ON THE WAY TOMARKET
OnemorningI^was^nmy way to themarket andmet a
man^wEohmA wives. *Eachof thewives had4bags
containing4dogs andeachdoghad4puppys.
Takingall things intoconsiderationhowmany were
goingto market?
37
54. A MATTER OF DENOMINATOR
A fractionhas thedenominator greater thanits numerator
by 6. But if youadd8tothedenominator, thevalueof
thefractionwouldthenbecome1.
Canyoufindthis fraction?
55. RIGHT FOOT FORWARD
A short mantakes threesteps toatall man's twosteps.
They bothstart out ontheleft foot. Howmany steps do
they havetotakebeforethey arebothsteppingout on
theright foot together?
*
56. A PROBLEM OF SOCKS
Mammuwears socks of two different colourswhite
andbrown. Shekeeps themall inthesamedrawer ina
stateof completedisorder.
Shehas altogether 20whitesocks and20brownsocks
inthedrawer. Supposingshehas to takeout thesocks in
thedark, howmany must shetakeout of thedrawer to
besurethat shehas amatchingpair?
57. A FAIR DIVISION
A richfarmer diedleavingbehindahundredacres of his
farmto bedividedamonghis threedaughters Rashmi,
MalaandRekhaintheproportionof one-third, cne-
fourthandone-fifthrespectively/ But Rekhadiedunex-
pectedly.
Nowhowshouldtheexecutor dividethelandbetween
Rashmi andMalainafair manner? /
39
58. HEADS I WIN TAILS I LOOSE
Durisgmy last visit toLas Vegas intheU.S.A., I met a
manwho was aninveterategambler. Hetook out acoin
fromhis pocket andsaidtome, 'Heads I win, tails I loose.
I'll bet half themoney inmy pocket.'
Hetossedthecoin, lost andgavemehalf themoney in
his pocket. Herepeatedthebet againandagaineachtime
offeringhalf themoney inhis pocket.
Thegamewent onfor quitesometime. I can't re-
collect exactly howlongthegamewent onor howmany
times thecoinwas tossed, but I do remember that the
times helost was exactly equal tothenumber of times
that hewon.
What doyouthink, didhe, onthewhole, gainor
loose?
40
59. MATHEMATICS ANDLITERATURE
Recently apublishingcompany whichspecialises inmathe-
matical books, advertisedthejobopeningof anassistant
editor. Theresponsewas good. Onehundredpeople
appliedfor theposition. Thecompany, however, wanted
to maketheir selectionfromtheapplicants who hadsome
traininginbothmathematics andliterature.
Of theonehundredapplicants thecompany foundthat
10of themhadhadno traininginmathematics andno
traininginliterature. Seventy of themhadhadsome
mathematical trainingand82hadhadsomeinliterature.
Howmany applicant shadhadtraininginbothmathe-
matics andliterature?
60. PROBLEM FROM LILAVATI
Hereis an ancient problemfromBhaskaracharya's
Lilavati:
Beautiful maiden, withbeamingeyes, tell mewhichis
thenumber that, multipliedby 3, thenincreasedby three-
fourths of theproduct, dividedby 7, diminishedby one-
thirdof thequotient, multipliedby itself, diminishedby
52, thesquareroot found, additionof 8, divisionby 10
gives thenumber 2?
Well, it sounds complicated, doesn't it? No, not if you
knowhowto go about it.
41
61. UP THE LADDER
A manwafts toreachupawindow40ft. fromtheground.
Thedistancefromthefoot of theladder tothewall is
9feet.
Howlongshouldtheladder be?
62. PIGS ANDDUCKS
Whiledrivingthroughthecountrysideoneday I sawa
farmer tendinghis pigs andducks inhis yard. I was cu-
rious toknowhowmany of eachhehad. I stoppedthe
car andinquired.
Leaningonthestilejovially, hereplied,'I havealto-
gether 60eyes and86feet betweenthem.'
I droveoff tryingtocalculateinmy mindtheexact
number of ducks andpigs hehad.
What do youthink is theanswer?
42
63. THE EGGVENDOR ANDHIS EGGS
Rasool, themanwho delivers eggs to my home everyday,
didnot turnuponeday. So whenhecamethenext
morningI demandedanexplanationfromhim. Hetold
methefollowingstory:
Theprevious morningwhenhejust cameout of the
housecarryingabasketful of eggs ohhis headto start his
daily rounds andsteppedonto thestreet, acar going
full speedbrushedagainst himandknockeddownhis
basket destroyingall theeggs. Thedriver, however, a
thoroughgentlemanadmittedhis responsibility andoffered
to compensatehimfor'damages. But Rasool could
not remember theexact number of eggs hehad, but he
estimatedthenumber at between50and100. Hewas
also ableto tell thegentlemanthat if theeggs werecounted
by 2's and3's at atime, nonewouldbeleft, but if counted
by S's at atime, 3wouldremain, andthat hesoldthe
eggs at SOpaiseapiece. '
Thegentlemanmadesomequick calculations andpaid
Rasool adequately.
Howmuchdidthegentlemanpay Rasool?
43
64.
SOME LUCK!
A society of farmers who ownfarms inthevicinity of
my hometownBangalore, plannedonholdingaraffle
andpersuadedmetobuy aticket. Thevalueof theticket
was Rs. 5. As I didnot want topay theentireamount
myself, I askedmy friendRadhatochipinwithme, and
offeredtosharewithher inproportiontheprizebounty
if therewas goingtobeany. ShepaidRs. 2andI paid
therest.
As luck wouldhaveitBingo!... wewonthefirst
prizeaflock of 50sheept GoodGod!... Niether of us
knewwhat todo withthesheep... Wherewouldwetake
theminthefirst place? Neither of us hadhadany train-
ingas shepherds! So wedecidedtosell thesheepback
tothefarmers.
As per our original understanding20of thesheep
belongedtoRadhaand30weremine.
However, I decidedthat wehadwontheprizebecause
of our combinedluck, andso weshoulddivideits value
equally.
Thesheep30of mineand20of Radha'sweresold,
eachat thesame-price, andI paidher Rs. 150to make
thesumequal.
What was thevalueper sheep?
44
65. THE FAULTY WATCH
Oneday I founda strange thing happeningto my
watchtheminutehandandthehour handwerecoming
together every sixty-fiveminutes. I decidedto haveit
seento.
Was my watchgainingor losingtime, andhowmuch
per hour?
66. THE TRAINS ANDTHE FALCON
Two trains start towards eachother fromtwo stations
SOmiles apart, at thesametimeandonasingletrack.
Just whenthetrains' start out, afalconleaves thefirst
trainandflies directly to theother train, andas soonas it
reaches thesecondtrain, thebirdstarts back towards the
first train. It continues doingso, flyingbackwards and
forwards fromonetrainto theother until thetrains
meet.
Boththetrains travel at aspeedof 25miles per hour,
andthebirdflies at 100miles per hour.
Howmany miles will thefalconhaveflownbeforethe
trains met?
45
67. WHICH IS MORE LUCRATIVE?
A businessmanadvertisedtwojobopenings for peons in
his firm. Two menappliedandthebusinessman decided
toengagebothor them. Heofferedthemasalary of Rs.
2,000per year; Rs. 1,000tobepaidevery half year, with
apromisethat their salary wouldberaisedif their work
proved satisfactory. They couldhavearaiseof Rs.
300per year, or if they preferred, Rs. 300eachhalf
year.
Thetwomenthought for afewmoments andthen
oneof themexpressedhis wishtotaketheraiseat Rs
300per year, whiletheother mansaidhewouldaccept
thehalf yearly increaseof Rs. 100.
Betweenthetwomen, who was thegainer, andby how
much?
68. LITTLE MAMMU ANDTHE MARBLES
LittleMammuwas playingmarbles withher friendNawal
I heardher say tohim, 'if yougivemeoneof your marbles
I'll haveas many as you.' Nawal replied, 'yougiveme
oneof your marbles, and I'll havetwiceas many
as you.'
I wonderedhowmany marbles eachhad! What do
youthink?
46
69. A FAMILY MATTER
Fifteenyears back my neighbour Mrs. Sareenhadthree
daughters Sudha, SeemaandReemaandtheir combined
ages werehalf of hers. Duringthenext fiveyears Sonny
was bornandMrs. Sareen's ageequalledthetotal of all
her children's ages.
After someyears Kishuwas bornandthenSudhawas
as oldas ReemaandSonny together. Andnow, the
combinedageof all thechildrenis doubleMrs. Sareen's
age, whichis, as amatter of fact, only equal tothat of
SudhaandSeematogether. Sudha's ageis alsoequal to
that of thetwosons.
What is theageof eachoneof them?
70. THE HIGH-RISE .
WhileinCanada, I visitedabeautiful hjgh-risebuilding
intheMetropolitan City of Toronto. The manager
of thebuildingtoldmethat thebuildingconsistedof
different kinds of apartments largeandsmall. Two room
apartments were5%innumber, 24's7%innumber,
3's15%innumber, 3's20%innumber, 4**849%
innumber, 5's33%innumber, 5i's12%innumber,
6's3%innumber andinadditionseveral 4roomapart-
ments. Altogether the buildingcontained437apart-
ments.
Canyoufigureout howmany apartments aretherein
eacbtype, usingroundfigures?
47
71. THE CURIOUS LICENSE PLATE
WhenI acquiredmy Mercedes-Benz car inGermany, the
first thingI hadtodo was toget alicenseplate. The
plateI got hadapeculiar number on it. It consistedof
5different numbers andby mistakewhenI fixedit upside
downthenumber couldbestill read, but thevaluehad
increasedby 78633.
What was my actual licensenumber?
72. LOOSE OR GAIN
A manI knowruns aworkshopinCalcutta. He bought
twolathes touseinhis workshop. However, hefound
out afterwards that they didnot servethepurposefor
whichhehadbought them, andso hedecidedtosell
them. Hesoldthemeachfor Rs. 600makingaloss
of 20%ononeof themandaprofit of 20%onthe
other.
Didheloseor gaininthetransaction, andhowmuch
dideachmachinecost him?
48
73.
ON THE SEE-SAW
Somedays back, walkingthroughthepark, I sawa
littlegirl tryingplay thesee-sawall by herself. It take*
two to see-saw, but herewas agirl who was ingenious
enoughto try andsee-sawonher own.
I sawher tryinganumber of bricks to oneendof the
plank to balanceher weight at th&other.
I curiously notedthat shejust balancedagainst sixteen
bricks, whenthesewere fixedto theshort endof theplank
andI also noticedthat if shewereto fix themto thelong
endof theplank, sheonly neededelevenas balance.
I wonderedwhat was thegirl's weight. Thebrick,
I couldguess weighedequal to athreequarter brick and
threequarters of apound.
Canyoufigureit out?
4
74. A PROBLEM OF COMBINATION
A box contains 12marbles of threedifferent colours
gTeen, yellowandblue4each.
If youweretocloseyour eyes andpick themat ran-
dom, howmany marbles must youtakeout tobesure
that there areat least twoof onecolour amongthe
marbles pickedout
75. THE SPECIAL NUMBER
Thereis anumber whosedoubleis greater thanits half
by 45.
Canyoufindthis number?
76. SAWINGTHE TREE TRUNK
A heavy treetrunk canbesawedintoapiece12ft long
inoneminute. Howlongwill it taketosawit intotwelve
equal pieces?
50
77.
THE BIGAMIST
A manI knowinBombay committedbigamy, by marrying
twowomenat brief intervals, onewithout theknowledge
of theother. Somehowhewas not brought tothe
noticeof thelawandthough, if expose^theaxecould
fall onhimany day, hedecidedtoget thebest out of the
situationwhileit lasted.
Hewas fondof boththewomenandhadno special
preferencefor either. Onelivednear Churchgateand
theother inBandra. Heworkednear astationmidway
betweenChurchgateandBandra.
After work hegenerally went tothestation, andtook
whichever traingot intothestation firstChurchgate or
Bandra. Hearrivedat whichever his destinationit wast
at randomtimes, but foundthat bewas visitinghis
Churchgatewifemuchmoreoftenthantheother, despite
thefact that boththeChurchgateandBandratrains were
onschedules whichbrought himtohiS stationequally
often. Sincethesamethinghadbeenhappeningfor a
very long time, chance has beenruledout as the
reason.
Canyoufindthereasonfor thefrequency of his
Churchgatetrips?
53
78- THE SPLIT
Canyousplit 34. parts intptwo parts suchthat -f of one
of theparts equals of theother?
79. AT THE FETE
A number of us went out together to acharity feteone
day. Our party consistedof 4 different professional
groups, namely 25writers, 20doctors, 18dentists and12
bank employees. Wespent altogether Rs. 1,330/.
Later it was foundthat fivewriters spent as muchas
four doctors, that twelvedoctors spent as muchas nine
dentists, andthat six dentists spent as muchas eight bank
employees.
Howmuchdideachof thefour professional groups
spend?
52
80. AT THE STORE
I enteredastoreandspent one-half of themoney that was
inmy purse. WhenI cameput I foundthat I hadjust
as many paiseas I hadrupees andhalf as many rupees as
I hadpaisewhenI went in.
Howmuchmoney didI haveonmewhenI entered?
81. THE COUNTERFEIT COINS
Duringmy last visit totheU.K. I spent afewdays ina
small town, whereI stayedas apayingguest withaBritish
landlady. Theheaters intheroominghousewereall
coinoperated.
Oneday my landlady requestedmy helpinsortingout
aproblem.
Therewereonehundredandtwenty coins inher gas-
meter andoneof them, sheknew, was counterfeit. The
counterfeit coinwas either heavier or lighter than the
others.
Nowtheproblemwas toisolatethis counterfeit coin
andfindout whether it was lighter or heavier, infive
weighings.
Howcanonedo it?
53
82. MULTIPLYING BACTERIA
#
Bacteriais knowntomultiply very rapidly.
A certaincontainer contains just onebacteriaonthe
first day andtherearetwiceas many onthenext day. In
this manner thenumber of bacteriainthe container
doubles itself everyday.
Assumingthat thecontainer wouldbefull of bacteria
onthe10thday, onwhichday would thecontainer be
half full.
83. THE MATHEMATICAL SHEPHERD
ShepherdGopal hadacurious aptitudefor mathematics
andhewas knownaroundwherehelivedas the'Counting
Shepherd'.
A manpassingthroughthemeadowoneday saw
Gopal grazinganumber of sheepandinthecourseof a
short cpnversationaskedhimhowmany of thegrazing
sheepwerehis own. Gopal's reply absolutely baffledhim,
whichwas as follows:
'If youdividemy sheepintotwogifferent parts, the
differencebetweenthetwonumbers will bethesameas
thedifferencebetweentheir squares. Npwfigureit out for
yourself thenumber of sheepI own.'
Canyousay just howmany sheepGopal had?
54
84.
A PUZZLINGNUMBER
Thereis anumber whichis greater thantheaggregateof
its third, tenthandthetwelfthparts by 58.
Canyoufindthenumber?
85. WHAT A COINCIDENCE?
A groupof sevenyoungmennamedArun, Binoy, Chun-
der, Dev, Edward, FakruddinandGovindwererecently
engagedinagame. They hadagreedthat whenever a
player wonagameheshoulddoublethemoney of each
of theother players, inother words hewas togivethe
players just as muchmoney as they hadalready intheir
pockets.
Inall they playedsevengames and, strangely, each
wonagameinturnintheorder inwhichtheir names are
given. But what was evenmorestrangewas that when
they hadfinishedthegameeachof thesevenyoungmen
hadexactly thesameamount, Rs. 32inhis pocket.
Canyoufindout howmuchmoney eachperson had
withhimbeforethey beganthegame?
55
86.
THE IDLER
RamRakhanwas well-knownall aroundhis neighbour-
hoodfor beingavery lazy person. So whenhewent
aroundlookingfor ajobas afarm-handeveryonerefused
to engagehim, except farmer GulabSingh, who was a
very smart person.
GulabSinghengagedtheservices of RamRakhanat
asalary of Rs. 240amonthconsistingof 30days. How-
ever, heset aconditionthat hewould forefeit Rs. 10a
day for everyday that heidled. RamRakhanaccepted
thejob.
At theendof themonthit was foundthat neither
owedtheother anything. This tought alessonto Ram
Rakhan.
Canyoutell jusf howmany days RamRakhanworked
andhowmany days heidled?
56
87.
NUMBERS GAME
Duringoneof my tours toCanada, I cameacross avery
interestinggam* participatedby twoplayers.
A groupof matchsticks is placedonthetableand
thenit is reducedinturnby eachplayer by removingfrom
thegroupat least 1but not morethan4matchsticks.
Theplayer who takes thelast match stick is the
winner.
If thereis agroupof 17matchsticks onthetablehow
wouldyoumakeyour first move, if it was your turnand
howwouldyoucontinuetoplay towin?
88. FATHER ANDSON
A father, I know, is 4times his son's age. Andin30
years thesonwill behalf as oldas his father.
Howoldarethefather andsoneachn*w?
57
89. A BARGAIN IN GUAVAS
Recently. I bought someguavas at Newmarket for Rs>
1.20. Bat they wereso small that I madethevendor
throwintwoextraguavas for thesamfeprice.
As I begantowalk away thevendor mumbledthat
this transactionhadmadehimlose10paiseadozenless
thepricewehadsettled.
Howmany guavas didI get for my Rs. 1.20?
90. THE SIX MATCHES
Showninthesketcharesix matchsticks
| I f f f
U li
Canyourearrangethemtomakenothing?
58
91. NOCHANGE PLEASE!
I badRs. 1.15inmy pursein6coins, but I foundthat I
couldnot givechangefor arupee, nor of ahalf rupee,
quarter rupee, tenpaiseor fivepaise.
Which6coins didI have?
92. A DATE TORECKON WITH
Thedate8.8.64, meaningAugust 8, 1964is avery interes-
tingdate, becausetheproduct of thefirst two numbers
equals thethird.
Canyoufindtheyear of thetwentiethcentury which
gives thegreatest number of occasions of this kind?
59
93. GOLDFOR ALL OCCASIONS
Which-isworthmore, abucket full of half asovereign
goldpiecesor anidentical bucket full of 1sovereigngold
pieces?
94. THE INK-SPOT
Oneday, Mammu, homefromschool set avery interes-
tingproblemtome. Shepushedalargecircular table
wehaveat home, intothecorner of theroom, sothat it
touchedbothwalls andspilledaspot of ink on the
extremeedge, andshesaid, 'Mummy hereis alittlepuzzle
for you. Look at that spot. It is exactly eight inches
fromonewall andnineinches fromtheother, Nowtell
methediameter of thetablewithout measuringit..
Canyou?

95- SPADE FOR A HEART
Hereis aspade:
Canyoucut thespadeintothreepieces that will fit to-
gether andformaheart?
Remember, no part of thematerial shouldbewasted.
61
96. THE NUMBER PUZZLE
Therearetwonumbers withthedifferenceof 3between
themandthedifferenceof their squares is 51.
Canyoufindthenumbers?
97. APROBLEM OF COINS
Canyouplace10coins insuchaway that they liein5
straight lines andoneachlinethereare4coins.
Thereareat least twosolutions.
62
98. THE SQUIRREL ANDTHE POST
I sawasquirrel climbingupacylindrical post spirally,
makingthecircuit infour feet.
Supposingthetopof thepost is sixteenfeet highand
threefeet incircumference, howmany feet doe* it travel
tothetop?
99. HEARTS APART
A manI knowfell inlovewithawomanwho lived63
miles away. Finally hedecidedtoproposemarriageto
his belovedandinvitedher totravel towards his placeand
offeredtomeet her onrouteandbringher home.
Themanis abletocover 4miles per hour tothe
woman's 3miles per hour.
Howfar will eachhavetravelleduponmeeting?
3
100.
THE CURFEW
Inmost States inIndiathelawfor thesaleof alcoholic
beverages provides that beer cannot besoldafter acertain
hour. However, insomeStates thelawpermits acusto-
mer toconsume, after thedeadline, what has beensold
beforethecurfew.
Inacertainbar 2menorderedsufficient beer tocover
their probablerequirements inanticipationof thecurfew.
Onemanorderedandpaidfor 5bottles andtheother
manorderedandpaidfor 3bottles. But as thecurfew
sounded, anoldfriendof boththemenapproachedand
requestedthemtosharewithhimthedrinks. Thetwo
managreedandsharedthetotal eight bottles of beer bet-
weenthem.
Thefriendthankedthetwomenandput downRs. $
inpayment for thebeer hehadconsumed, askingthemto
sharethemoney inproportiontothequantity of beer they
havecontributedtohim.
Howshouldthis money beequitably dividedbetween
thetwomen?
64
1W. A PROBLEM OF AGE
Recently I met awomanI hadn't seeninalongtime. In
thecourseof conversationshesaid, 'Do youknowsome-
thingfunny? If youreversemy ownage, thefigures repre-
sent my husband's age. Heis of coursesenior to meand
thedifferencebetweenour ages is one-eleventhof their sum.
Canyoufindout thewoman's ageas well as her hus-
band's age?
102. THE CIRCULAR NUMBERS
Hereis asketch:
2
Canyourearrangethepositionof thenumbers 1to
10 sothat thesumof any two adjacent numbers is equal
to thesumof thepair of numbers at theoppositeends of
thediameters?
65
103. THE PASSENGER TRAIN
ANDTHE GOODS TRAIN
Two trains, apassenger trainandagoods train are
runninginthesamedirectiononparallel railway tracks.
Thepassenger traintakes threetimes as longtopass the
goodseven when they are going intheopposite
directions.
If thetrains runat uniformspeeds, howmany times
faster than the freight train is thepassenger train
moving?
104. RICE FOR THE FESTIVAL
At acertainfestivity arichmandecidedto distribute
freericetodeservingpeople. Hehadaltogether 100
kilos of riceandhewantedtodistributethegrainto
100peopleinsuchamanner that eacholdpersonreceived
threekilos, eachyouiigpersontwoandeachchildhalf a
kilo. Howmany oldpersons, youngpersons andchildren
werethere?
66
105. THREES TOMAKE THIRTY-ONE
Canyouwrite31usingonly thedigit 3fivetimes?
106. SWARM OF BEES
Hereis another problemfromBhaskaracharya's Lilavati:
Thesquareroot of half thenumber of bees ina
swarmhas flownout uponajasminebush; eightninths of
thewholeswarmhas remainedbehind; onefemalebee
flies about amalethat is buzzingwithinthelotus flower
intowhichhewas alluredinthenight by its sweet odour,
but is nowinprisonedinit. Tell methenumber of
bees?
67
167. WHAT WERE YOU DOING
WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT ?
Last timetherewas loadsheddinginCalcutta, I was
readingavery interestingbook andI couldnot stop. My
neighbour Parveengavemetwocandles andassured me
that I couldmanagewiththem.
Thoughthecandles wereof thesamelength, Parveen
toldmethat onecandlewouldburnfor four hours and
theother for fivehours.
After I hadbeenreadingfor sometime1put the
candles out as thelights cameonagain. And I noticed
that what remainedof onecandlewas exactly four times
thelengthof what was left of theother.
Canyoufindout just howlongthosetwocandles
wereburning?
68
168. THE DOTTEDSQUAKE
Twesty-Svedot* arc arrangedinasquareformation
raS rows of 5, as shows iathesketch:
Canyouconnect 12of thesedots withstraight fees
toformaperfect cross whichhas fivedots iaaidoit and8
dots outside?
69
109. STORY OF THE THREE FARMERS
Three farmers paid Rs. 1,000 for asmall pasture.
Onefarmer grazedhis 9mules, another his 12cows for
twicethetimeandthelast manput insomegoats for
2times as thesecondman's cows andpaidhalf thecost
of thepasture.
Canyoufindout howmany goats didthelast man
have, if 6cows eat as muchas 4mules, and10goats as
muchas 3cows ? Andhowmuchdidthefirst andsecond
maneachpay?
110. UP THE STREAMDOWN THE STREAM
Whileupstream, acrewcanrowaboat ineight and
four-sevenths minutes. But if therewereno streamthey
couldrowit insevenminutes less thanit takes themto
drift downthestream.
Canyousay howlongit wouldtakethemtorow
downwiththestream?
70
111. STAFF ANDTHE STEEPLE
A fivefeet longstaff casts ashadow2feet long. Can
youfindtheheight of asteeplewhoseshadowat the
samehour, is 120ft. long?
112. WINE ANDWATER
WhileI was talkingtoachemist oneday, heset me
this interestingproblem:
'I decidedtomix somewinespirits andwater. I had
twobottles containing10ounces of each. I pouredjust
aquarter of anounceof spirits intothewater andshook
themup. Youcanseeclearly that themixturewas forty
toone. NowI thought that I should havethesame
quantity of fluidinboththebottles, andso I pouredback
aquarter of anounceof themixtureintothebottle
containingwater.' <
Canyoutell what proportionof spirits towater did
thespirits of winebottlethencontain?
7t
113. THE LONGTUNNEL
A trainis one mile long. It travels at therateof
onemileaminutethroughatunnel whichis also one
milelong.
Canyousay howlongit will takefor thetraintopus
completely throughthetunnel?
114. THE HORSE, THE COWANDTHE SHEEP
A manowns ahorse, acowandasheep. Healso
owns apasturetograzethemall.
If thehorseandcowcaneat thecontents of the
pasturein40days, whilethehorseandsheepcando it
in60days andth$cowandthesheepin90days, how
longshouldit takeall of themeatingtogether?
72
115. THE TWOMATHEMATICAL MEN
InBangaloretherei* a well knownScienceInstitute.
Duringavisit I askedtwoof thementotell metheir
ages. Onereplied, 'Oneof our ages subtractedfromtke
other's equals 30.'
Thentheother manspoke, 'Our ages multipliedto-
gether equal 1624'.
What weretheir ages?
116. A QUESTIONOF MILEAGE
If 5litres wereusedonacar which hat travelled
20,000miles, howmany miles dideack litresustain, if aU
thelitres wereusedequally insustainingthis mileage?
73
117. A PROBLEM OF DISSECTION
Theshapeshowninthesketchbelow, obviously, is
that of asquareattachedtohalf of another similar square,
divideddiagonally:
Canyoudivideit intofour pieces all of precisely the
samesizeandshape?
W
118. THE SIXTEEN FOURS
Howcanyoumakeatotal of 1,000by usingsixteen
4*6?
119. THE STRANGE TWONUMBERS
There are two whole numbers, whosedifferenceof
their squares is acubeandthedifferenceof their cubes
is asquare. Thesearethesmallest possiblenumbers.
Canyoufindthetfumbers?
75
120. HOWMUCH?
I havetwo 10paisecoins. If of what I haveis
of what youhave, howmuchdo youhave?
121. THE 'MIXEDDOUBLE'
Four marriedcouples playedatennis tournament of
'mixeddoubles'. A manandawomanalways played
against amanandawoman. However, no personever
playedwithor against any other personmorethanonce.
They all playedtogether intwo courts onthreesuccessive
days.
Canyoushowhowthey couldhavedoneit?
76
122. THE BARGAIN
Sometimes oneis mystifiedat thestartling reductions
somepeoplemakeintheir prices andwonders onwhat
principlethereductions arebased. To quoteanexample
threeyears ago afriendofferedmeausedtypewriter for
Rs. 1024. A year later heofferedmethesamefor
Rs. 640andlast year hewantedRs. 400andnowhe
is willingto sell it to mefor Rs. 250. But I have
decidedto buy it whenhereduces next time.
If hedoes aconsistent reduction, at what pricewill
heoffer thetypewriter to menext?
123. AT THE FAIR
At thefair I bought 6pineapples andtwo jackfruits
for Rs. 15. If I couldhavebought 4 morepineapples
for Rs. 14thanjackfruits for Rs. 9. What wouldbe
thepriceof each? ,
77
124. SECTIONS OF A NECKLACE
i havefivesections of anecklaceeachsection con-
sistingof four links. I took thesections toagoldsmith
andaskedhimtogivemeanestimatetojointhe5
sections intoaonepiecenecklace. Thegoldsmithwanted
Re.l tocut openalink andRe. 1tosolder it together
again.
What is thecheapest methodandhowmuchshouldit
cost metoget thefivepieces joinedtogether intoonefull
necklace?
125. THE PROBLEM OF SQUARE BOARDS
I havethreesquareboards, thesurface of the first
containingfivesquarefeet morethanthesecond, andthe
$econdcontainingfivesquarefeet morethanthethird.
Canyoufindtheexact measurements for thesides of
theboards?
78
126. AGE OF DEMOCHARES
This is an ancient problemdating back to about
310A.D.
Demochares has livedone-fourthof his lifeas aboy,
one-fifth9s ayouth, one-thirdas aman, andhas spent
thirteenyears inhis dotage. Howoldis Demochares?
127. THE AGE OLDPROBLEM
Thecombinedages of ReenaandSeenaare44years
andReenais twiceas oldas Seenawas whenReenawas
half as oldas Seenawill bewhenSeenais threetimes as
oldas Reenawas whenReenawas threetimes as oldas
Seena.
Howoldis Reena?
79
128. THE PAINTEDCUBE
A cubfo object 3"x3"x3" is painted blue on all
theoutsidesurfaces, includingthetopandbottom. If
thecubeis cut into27cubes of 1" x 1" x 1", howmany
1" cubes do haveany paintedsurfaces?
129. SMOKINGNOT PROHIBITED
A standard-sized cigarette can berolledout of 6
standard-sizedcigarettebutts. Howmany cigarettes can
bemadeandsmokedfrom36butts?
so
130. MATHEMATICAL TAXI DRIVER
Some times small town taxi drivers can be very
rude. Onetaxi driver I hadtheoccasiontotravel with
was particularly lackingincourtesy, andso I askedfor
bis number.
Thedriver gavemeasardonical smileandsaid, 'Well,
if youdividemy number by 2, 3, 4, 5or 6youwill find
thereis always 1remaining. But if youdivideit by 11
thereis noremainder. Do youwant toknowsomething
more? Therearen't noother cabby inthis town witha
lower number thanwhocansay thesame,' andhedrove
off, while1stoodtherecompletely baffled.
What was theman's number?
131. DIVIDINGTHE LOADEQUALLY
Onmy return to India, after an extensive tour of
America, I waitedfor thetwocrates I hadsent by ship
as unaccompaniedbaggage.
Whenthey finally arrived, I hadthemclearedthrough
theCustoms andengagedthreelabourers tocarry theip
tomy home3miles distant. I was goingtopay t&em
Rs. 8eachfor this task.
As I was goingtopay eachof themequal amounts,
they decidedtocarry acrateeachequal distance.
Howdidthey managetodo it ?
81
132. MR. PORTCHESTER'S PROBLEM
Last tifte I sawMr. Portchester" inLondon he was
facingaserious problempouringhis winefromonevessel
totheother.
Mr. Portchester hadtwotenquart containers full
of wine. Healsohadafivequart andafour quart
measure.
All hewantedtodo was put exactly threequarts into
eachof the twomeasures. Hewas standingthere
wonderinghowheis todo itl
NowI offeredtohelpandgavehimsomesuggestions.
Canyoufindout what was my suggestion, andhow
many manipulations of pouringfromonevessel tothe
other didherequire, without wasteof any wine, tiltingor
other tricks.
82
133. DOTS ANDLINES
Ninedots arearrangedby 3rows of 3intheformof
asquareas showninthesketchbelow:
Canyoudrawfour straight lines, thesecondbeginning
wherethefirst ends, thethirdbeginningwherethesecond
ends, andthefourthbeginningwherethethird ends so
that eachdot is or at least oneline?
83
134. ' LONGFELLOWANDHIS BEES
Here is asimplearithmetical puzzle set by Long-
fellowinhis ownflowery, poetical language.
If one-fifthof ahiveof bees flewtothebadamba
flower, one-thirdflewtotheslandbara, threetimes the
differenceof thesetwonumbers flewtoanarbour, and
onebeecontinuedtofly about, attractedoneachsideby
thefragrant Ketaki andMalati, what was thenumber of
bees?
135. THE TENNIS TOURNAMENT
A singles tennis tournament is heldinwhich30men
participate. If aplayer is eliminatedas soonas heloses
amatch, howmany matches arerequiredto determine
thewinner?
84
136.
THE TRIANGLES
Howmany triangles, of any size, arethereinthis star:
137. DRIVING THROUGHTHE COUNTRY
I decidedto drivethrough thecountry leisurely, and
onthefirst day I didonly 7miles. Onthelast day I did
51miles, increasingmy journey 4miles eachday.
Howmany days didI travel andhowfar?
85
138. THE SABBATH DAY
Christians holdthefirst day of theweek as Sabbath,
theJews theseventh, andtheTurks thesixth.
Howcanthesethree, haveeachhis owntrueSabbath
onthesameday ?
139. THE PUZZLEDARTIST
Anartist wantedtopaint apictureonacanvas which
wouldallowfor amarginof 4inches ontopandon
bottomand twoinches oneachside. Hewantedthe
pictureitself tooccupy 72squareinches.
What shouldbethesmallest dimensions, thecanvas he
is goingtoobtain, shouldpossess?
S
140. THE MYSTERY OF NUMBER ELEVEN
Canyoufindthelargest possible number containing
any 9of the10digits, considering Oalsoas anumber,
that is divisibleby 1), without aremainder?
141. THE ROSE GARDEN
Inmy bungalowinBangaloreI haveabeautiful rose
garden.
Thefour sides of thegardenareknownto be20, 16,
12and10rods. Andit is alsoknown that it has the
greatest possibleareafor thosesides.
Canyoufindthearea?
87
142. SQUARES WITHIN SQUARE
Intbeillustrations below, howmany squares arethere?
143. THE FARMER ANDTHE ANIMALS
Parmer Thimmayya bought somemules at Rs. 50
each, sheepat Rs. 40each, goats at Rs. 25each, and
pigs at Rs. 10each. Theaverageprice of theanimals
per headworkedtoRs. 30.
Howmany animals of eachkinddidhebuy?
88
144. THE MANGOTHIEVES
Onenight threenaughty boys stole a basketful of
mangoes fromagarden, hidtheloot andwent tosleep.
Beforeretiringthey didsomequick countingandfound
that thefruits wereless thanahundredinnumber.
During the night onethief awoke, counted the
mangoes andfoundthat hecoulddividethemangoes into
threeequal parts if hefirst took onefor himself. Hethen
took onemango, ateit up, andtook $of therest, hid
themseparately andwent back tosleep.
Shortly thereafter another thief awoke, countedthe
mangoes andheagainfoundthat if hetook oneCor
himself theloot couldbedivided intothreeequal parts.
Heateuponemango, bagged J of. theremainder, hid
themseparately andwent back to sleep. Thethirdthief
alsoawokeafter sometime, didthesameandwent back
tosleep.
Inthemorningwhenthey all wokeup; andcounted
their mangoes, they foundthat theremainingmangoes
againtotalled1morethan could bedividedinto three
equal parts.
Howmany mangoes didtheboys steal?
89
145. THE HOUSE WHERE SHE LIVES
It was at acocktail party inNewYork that I met
Stephanie. We exchanged our phone numbers and
decidedtomeet eachother soon.
Whensherangupandinvitedmetoher housethis is
howshegavemethenumber of her hduse:
'I liveinalongstreet. Numberedonmy sideare
thebouses one, two, threeand so on. All thenumbers
ononesideof meaddupexactly thesameas all the
numbers ontheother sideof me. I knowtherearemore
thanfifty houses onthat sideof thestreet, but not so
many as fivehundred.
CanyoufindStephaine's housenumber?
146. A MATTER OF RUPEES ANDPAISES
I haveamoney pouch containing Rs. 700. There
areanequal number of 25paisecoins, 50paisecoins
andonerupeecoins.
Howmany of eacharethere?
90
147. SAWINGTHE CUBE
Wehaveawoodencubeof 3" onasideand wehave
abuzz-saw. Thecubecanbecut into27oneinchcubes
by thebuzz-saw. Only 6cuts of sawarenecessary to do
this, whilekeepingthepieces together. Now, canyou
reducethenumber of cuts by rearrangingthepieces after
eachcut? If youcan, howis it done? If you can't,
why can't it bedone?
148. THE TWOTRAINS
Two trains start at thesametime, onefromBangalore
to Mysoreandtheother fromMysoreto Bangalore. If
they arriveat their destinations onehour andfour hours
respectively after passingoneanother, howmuchfaster is
onetrainrunningthantheother?
91
149. THE SQUARES
Canyoufindfour numbers suchthat thesumof every
twoandthesumof all four may beperfect squares?
150. THE ARITHMETICAL LANDLADY
WhilehousehuntinginLondon, I cameacross avery
goodbaseholdproperty. Discussingtheleasetheland-
lady toldme:
'Theproperty was originally ona99years leaseand
two-thirds of thetimepast is equal to four-fifths of the
timetocome. Nowwork it out for yourself andseehow
many years aretheretogol
Howmany years of unexpired leasedidtheproperty
have?
92
Solutions
1. Thefirst brother is 70inches tall, thesecond 72
thethird74andthefourthbrother 80inches tall.
2. Twenty-six minutes.
3. Sincetheboys haveas many brothers as sisters,
theremust be1boy morethanthenumber of
girls. If wetry 2and1, 3and2, and4and3,
wewill findthat 4boys and3girls is the
solutionto fulfil therequirement that eachgirl has
twiceas many brothers as sisters.
4. Naturally, thetraintravellingagainst thespinof
theearth. This trainwill wear its wheels out
morequickly, becausethecentrifugal forceis
less onthis train.
*
5. No, theanswer is not 32 miles anhour, though
this figureis theobvious answer! However, this
represents theaverageof the2speeds and not
theaveragespeedfor thewholetrip.
If thetimeis equal tothedistancedividedby the
averagespeed, thenthetimefor thetripstarting
fromSanFranciscoequals ~4orandthetimefor the
s
returntripis is whichgives us atotal timeof
40 whichequals "MO
Thereforetheaveragespeedfor thewholetrip
whentheaverage speed equals thedistance
1SS
dividedby thetimeis 2S dividedby ~soowhich
, _ . 200 , . , , 400S 10
equals 2S times iss%whichequals i3s~or 30~f3
miles anhour.
95
6. One'can think of different answers for this
question, but yet thecorrect answer is very simple.
All wehavetoconsider is that theshopowner
couldnot havepossibly lost morethanthetourist
actually stole.
Thetourist got away withthebicyclewhichcost
the shopowner Rs. 300 and the Rs. 50
'change', andthereforehemadeoff withRs. 350.
Andthis is theexact amount of theshopkeeper's
loss.
7. Thelowest squarenumber I canthink of, contain-
ingall theninedigits onceandonly once, is
139854276, thesquareof 11826, andthehighest
squarenumber under the. sameconditions is
932187456thesquareof 30384.
8. By experiment'wefindthat theonly numbers that
canbeturnedupsidedownandstill readas a
number are0, 1, 6, 8and9.
Thenumbers 0, 1and8remain0, 1and8when
turnedover, but 6becomes 9and 9becomes 6.
Thereforethepossiblenumbers onthebus were
9, 16, 81, 100, 169or 196. However, thenumber
196is theonly number whichbecomes aperfect
squarewhenturnedover because961 is the
perfect squareof 31.
Therefore196is thecorrect answer.
9. Hereis theformulathat gives theminutes past
twelvetowhichthehour handpoints whenthe
minutehandis exactly thirty minutes ahead.
96 PPY-6
30
Minutes past twelveY=[ (n1) 2+11
wherenis thenext hour
Let's takethecaseof at what timebetween4and
5will thehands beoppositeeachother? (n=5).
30 270. _, 6
.-.Y =-ppx 9="TP* 24tt.
i.e. thehour handwill be24TT minutes past 4.
Theformulamay bederivedfromthefollowing:
If X is distancemovedby theminutehand
Y is thedistancemovedby hour hand
thenXY =30
First timethehands moveroundX =12Y
Secondtimethehands moveroundX =12Y5
Thirdtimethehands moveround X =12Y10
etc.
10. ThePoliceOfficer took thirty steps. Inthesame
time'thethief took forty-eight, whichaddedtohis
start of twenty-seven, carried fiimseventy-five
steps. This distancewouldbeexactly equal to
thirty steps of thePoliceOfficer.
11. Whilestriking7theclock strikes its first gongat
7o'clock andit strikes 6moreat regular intervals.
These6intervals take7seconds so that theinter-
vals betweengongs isiT seconds. However to
strike10thereare9intervals eachtaking"if*
seconds for atotal of 10}seconds.
12. Inorder that thelittlegirl shouldhavedisposed
of theoranges shehadremainingafter her second
97
sale, she; must havehadat least onewholeorange
remainingso that shecould deduct fromit 'half
of her oranges plus half anorange', for thethird
and the final sa'le. Therefore, if 1orange
represents half of theremainingafter thesecond
sale, thenshemust havesoldtwooranges inher
second sale, leavingthe3oranges after thefirst
sale.
Lastly if threeoranges only represent half the
original number, plus half anorange, thenshe
must havestartedwith[ (3x2)+1] or 7oranges.
13. All the transactions carried out through the
counterfeit noteareinvalid, andthereforeevery-
body stands inrelationtohis debtor just where
hewas beforeI pickedupthenote.
14. A poundof cottonis heavier thanapoundof
goldbecausecottonis weighedby theavoirdupois
pound, whichconsists of 16ounces, whereas gold,
beingaprecious metal is weighedby thetroy
poundwhichcontains 12ounces (5760grams).
15. WhenTinkutakes 12, RinkuandJojowill take
9and14respectivelyandthenthey would have
takenaltogether thirty-fivenuts.
Thirty-fiveis containedin770twenty-two times
whichmeans all one has to do nowis merely
multiply 12, 9and14by 22tofindthat Tinku's
sharewas 264, Rinku's 198andJojo's 308.
Nowas thetotal of their ages is 17i years or half
thesumof 12, 9and 14, their respectiveages
must be6, 4and7years.
16. Jayant was 24andMohini 18.
17. Theminimumnumber of weights requiredis five
andtheseshould weight 1, 3, 9, 27and81
pounds.
18. Let's assumeGis thenumber of glasses delivered
intact. Then,
3G=theamount earned.
Let's assumeB is thenumber of glasses broken.
Then
9B =theamount forfeited
3G9B =240
9B =240
G+B =100
3B =300
128=60
B =5andG=95.
19. 27 2+7=9, 9x3=27
20. 81
5643
297
81-
7524
9
.5742
638
396
q.5823
647
82
91
3546
197
7524
836
99
94
1578
96
1428
96
_1752
263 357 438
2148 . - 69258
9 6
si r
a n d 3
~7i4-
21. I don't knowabout you, but I wouldhavehanded
over 5twopaisestamps, 30onepaisestamps and
7-fivepaisestamps.
22. Thereisn't really any mystery, becausetheex-
planationis simple. While the twoways of
sellingareonly identical, whenthenumber of
marbles soldat threefor apaiseandtwofor a
paiseis intheproportionof threetotwo. There-
forewhenthefirst womanhandedover 36marbles
andthesecondwoman 24, they would have
fetched24paise, immaterial of soldseparately or
at fivefor 2paise. But if they eachheldthe
samenumber of marbles therewouldbealoss
whensoldtogether of 1paiseinevery 60marbles.
So, if they had60each, therewouldbealoss of 2
paiseandif therewere90each(180altogether)
they wouldlose3paiseandso on.
Inthecaseof 60, themissing1paisearises from
thefact that the3apaisewomangains 2paise
andthe2apaisewomanloses 3paise.
Thefirst womanreceives 9i paiseandthesecond
woman14, so that eachloses $paiseinthe
transaction.
23. Thecouplearrivedhome10minutes earlier than
ubual. Thereforethepoint at whichthey met
100
must havebeen5minutes drivingtimefromthe
station. Thus thewifeshouldhavebeenat that
point at fiveminutes to six. Since the man
startedto walk at fiveo'clock, hemust have
beenwalkingfor 55minutes whenhi met his
wife.
24. At eachstationpassengers canget tickets for any
of theother 24stations andthereforethenumber
of tickets requiredis 25x 24=600.
25. My aunt's sharewas Rs. 49200.
26. Wecanbuildconcentric hexagons' containing1,
6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36and42circles. When
R '
becomes sufficiently largetherewill beroom
for extracircles.
If thereis anevennumber of circles per sidein
iast hexagon, anoutsider canbeplacedcentrally if
1 +
V
X
2
^ i.e. i f ~- 13.9.
r
r
2
Two more'outsiders' canbeput eachsideof this
oneif
[ (R +r)^
V
+(2r)
2
] +r <R
101
i.e. if 0 14*15
i.e. if^15.
r
Thereforeinthegivenexamplethree outsiders
canbeaccommodated.
Andthenumber of saucers that canbeplacedon
thetableis:
1+6+12+18+24+30+36+42+(3x6) =187.
27. If I walk 26steps I require30seconds.
If I walk 34steps I requireonly 18seconds.
Multiplyingthe30by 34and26by 18weget
1020and468.
The differencebetween 1020and468is 552.
Whenwedividethis number by thedifference
between30and18-, i.e. by 12weget theanswer
46thenumber of steps inthestairway.
28. No. It cannot bedone.
Eachrectanglecovers 1whitesquareandone
black square, becauseonachess board thewhite
andblack squares arealways adjacent.
Thetwosquares whichweremovefromthechess
boardareof thesamecolour, andso theremaining
boardhas twomoreboxes of onecolour thanthe
other. Andafter therectangles havecovered60
boxes, therewill beleft twosquares of thesame
colour. Obviously theremainingrectanglecannot
cover thesetwosquares.
102
29. Just onelook at theDumber 999919andweknow
that it cannot beaprimenumber. Andif the
problemhas tohaveonly oneanswer, this number
canhaveonly two factors. Thefactors are991
and1009, bothof whichareprimes.
Weknowthat eachcat killedmoremicethan
therewerecats, andthereforethecorrect answer,
clearly, is that 991cats killed1009mice.
30. Theforcwheel is 8feet incircumferenceand the
hindwheel 12feet.
31. If X is thetemperature^=X 32
32. Theentiremilewas runinnineminutes. Though
fr.>mthefacts givenwecannot determinethetime
takenover thefirst andsecond quarter-miles
separately, weknow, however, that together they
took four andahalf minutes. Andthelast two
quarters wererunintwoanda quarter minutes
each.
5
4X
.e. - j =-32
whichgives X =40
i.e. 40C =40F.
103
Theclock brokeninthemanner showninthe
illustrationbelow:
Thenumerals oneachof thefour parts will sum
to20.
104
34. Thepainted areaas shownintheillustration
below:
Thoughit does not leavetheclear area4' x 4',
however does measure4' fromtoptobottomand
fromsidetoside.
35. Weknowthat therewerefivedroves withan
equal number ineachdrove, andthereforethe
number must bedivisibleby 5. As every oneof
theeight dealers bought the samenumber of
animals, thenumber must alsobedivisibleby 8.
This leads us totheconclusionthat thenumber
must beamultipleof 40.
Nowthehighest possiblemultipleof 40that will
work will befoundtobe120, andthis number
couldbemadeupinoneof twoways1cow, 23
sheepand96pigs or 3cows, 8sheep and 109
pigs. But thefirst does not fit inbecausethe
animals consistedof 'Cows, SheepandPigs' and
105
asingle'Cow' is not 'Cows'. Thereforethe
secondpossibility is thecorrect answer.
f thof Rs. 35 equals Rs. 40 the regular
sellingpriceof thefirst frock and g- of Rs. 30
equals Rs. 35, theregular sellingpriceof the
secondfrock. Now, if thefirst frock usually sells
for Rs. 40andis sold for Rs. 35 on the
reducedprice, thenI save Rs. 5. This gives
mea gain on the cost the percentageof
-jr whichequals ~andthat is alittlemorethan
14.28.
Thesecondfrock usually sells for Rs. 35, which
onthereducedpricecosts meRs. 30. AgainI
saveRs. 5whichequals or ~that amounts
to, inpercentage, againof littlemorethan16.66.
Thedifferencebetweenthefirst frock and the
secondinterms of percentagegainedis a little
morethan2.38. Hencethe- second frock is a
better buy.
Thekey tothesolutionis that withalittlebit
of pencil work, it will befound, whileI canwalk
5miles, my friendwho startedfromTumkur can
walk 7miles. Let's assumethedistancebetween
BangaloreandTumkur is 24miles, thenthepoint
of meetingwouldbe14miles fromBangalore,
andthereforeI walked 3-5- miles per hour while
106
my friendwalked4-i- miles per hour, andwe
botharrivedexactly at 7P.M.
38. Let's assumethat themanandthetrain normally
met at thecrossingat 8A.M., thentheusual
timeof thecyclist at thebendis 8A.M. andhe
is 6miles behindat 7.30A.M. But whenthe
cyclist is late, hearrives at thebendat 8.25A.M.
andthereforeheis six miles behindat 7.55A.M.
Sincethetraintakes 5minutes totravel thesix-
milerun, thespeedof thetrainis 72m.p.h.
39. Thewomanmadealtogether Rs. 20. Shemads
Rs. 10whenshesoldtheitemfor thefirst time
andanother Rs. 10whenshesoldit for the
secondtime.
40. 84
41. Whilethefirst was theexamplegiven, thetoprow
must beoneof thefour followingnumbers : 192,
219, 273or 327.
42. Themanufacturer must takeoneflywheel made
by eachmachine, findtheir total weight and
comparethis withtheweight of theequivalent
number of goodflywheels toobtainthedifference.
Thenhemust take1flywheel frommachine
number one, 2flywheels frommachinenumber
107
twoandso forth, andweightheseagainst the
corretf weight for that number of parts.
44. Themerchant must mix 70Kilos of theRs. 32
coffeewith30Kilos of Rs. 40coffee.
45. I must have hadRi. 42inmy pursewhenI
startedout.
46. 4, 5and6.
47. If thesari cost Rs. 100andtheblouseRs. 10
thedifferencewouldbeRs. 90, andthereforethe
sari must cost moreandtheblouseless. A little
thought indicates thesari costs Rs. 105andthe
blouse Rs. 5. So thedifferencein cost is
Rs. 100.
108
43. ThedateonwhichI met theboy was 1st January
1977, and the boys birthday was on31st
December, 1976. Theboy was 11years oldon
theday I met him.
49. Thewholebrick weighs 3lbs.
50. They had Rs. 22781.25.
51. Let's assumethat theageof theshipat present
is X years andof theboiler Y years.
Then
TheshipX is twiceas oldas its boiler (YX) was
whentheshipwas (xX) as oldas theboiler
is now.
X =2(YX) and(xX) 2.
EliminatingX gives 4Y =3x.
Also, x+Y =30
Y (theboiler) =~ years
andX (theship)
120
a years.
109
52. Thefollowingwouldbetheprocedureinchart
form:'
19Ounces 13Ounces
7Ounces
0
13 7
Step 1 7
13 0
Step 2 19
1 0
Step 3 12
1
7
Step 4 12
8 0
Step 5 5
8 7
Step 6 5
13 2
Step 7 18
0 2
Step 8 18
2 0
Step 9 11 2 7
Step 10 11
9 0
Step 11 4
9 7
Step 12 4
13
3
Step 13 17
0 3
Step 14 17
3 0
Step 15 10
3 7
53. Just myself! Only I was goingto themarket
andI met all theothers comingfromtheopposite
direction.
54.
7_
13
55. They will never stepout withright feet together.
56. Threesocks must betakenfromthedrawer,
becauseif only twoweretakenonemight be
110
whiteandtheother brown. However, thethird
selectionmust result inapair of whiteor brown
socks.
57. As Rekha's sharefalls inthrough her death, the
farmhas nowtobedividedonly betweenRashmi
andMala, intheproportionof one-thirdto one-
fourththat is intheproportionof four-twelfths
tothree-twelfths, whichis thesameas four to
three. ThereforeRashmi gets four-sevenths of
thehundredacres andMalathree-sevenths.
58. Themanmust havelost. Andthelonger hewent
on themorehewouldlosewithsimplecal-
culations, wecandrawthis conclusion:
Intwotosses hewas left withthreequarters of
his money. '
Infour tosses nine-sixteenths of his money.
Insix tosses withtwenty-sevensixty-fourths of
his money, andso on.
Immaterial of theorder of thewins and losses,
heloses money, so longas their number is in the
endequal.
59. Tenapplicants hadhadneither mathematics nor
literaturetraining. So wecannowconcentrate
ontheremaining90, applicants. Of the90, twenty
hadhadno mathematics and eight hadhadno
literary training.
That leaves us witharemainder of 62who have
hadtraininginbothliteratureandmathematics.
ill
60. 28is theanswer.
Themethodof workingout this problemis to
reversethewholeprocessmultiplying2by 10,
deducting8, squaringtheresult andso on.
61. V40"+9"ft =V1600+81 ft =\/1681ft
=41feet.
62. Thereweresixty eyes, so theremust havebeen
thirty animals. Nowthequestionis what com-
binationof four-leggedpigs andtwo-leggedducks
addingtothirty will give86feet. Withsome
pencil vork, weget theanswer 13pigs and17
ducks.
63. Thesimplest way is tofindthosenumbers between
50and100, whicharemultiples of 2and3leaving
no remainder. These numbers are54, 60, 66,
72, 78, 84, 90and96. By scrutiny wefindthat
if 78is dividedby 5it will give 15plus 3left
over. Therefore78is thetotal number of eggs
Rasool hadinhis basket, beforetheaccident.
And therefore he was paid Rs. 39by the
gentleman.
64. Rs. 30.
65. If 65minutes becountedonthefaceof thesame
watchthen theproblemwouldbeimpossible.
112
PPY-7
because the hands mus>t coincideevery
minutes as shownby its faceandit hardly
matters whether it runs fast or slow. However,
if it is measuredby truetime, it gains of a
minutein65minutes or ^ of a minuteper
hour.
66. Thetrains travel at 25miles per hour. Therefore
they will meet after travellingfor onehour and
thefalconalsomust havebeenflyingfor one
hour. Sinceit travels at 100miles per hour, the
birdmust haveflown100miles.
67. At araiseof Rs. 300per year; .
1st year Rs. 1000+Rs. 1000=Rs. 2000
2ndyear Rs. 1150+Rs. 1150=? Rs. 2300
3rd year Rs. 1300-f Rs. 1300 =Rs. 2600
4th year Rs. 1450+Rs. 1450=Rs. 2900
At araiseof Rs. 100eachhalf year:
1st year Rs. 1000+R. 1100=Rs. 2100
2ndyear Rs. 1200+Rs. 1300=Rs. 2500
3rd year Rs. 1400+Rs. 1500=Rs. 2900
4th year Rs. 1600+Rs. 1700=Rs. 3300
Obviously thesecondpropositionis muchmore
lucrative.
68. Mammuhad5marbles andNawaJ 7.
113
69. Th6ages must beas follows:
Mrs. Sareen 39
Sudha 21
Seema 18
Reema 18
Sonny 12
Kishu 9
It is obvious that SeemaandReemaaretwins.
70. Since437contains thepercentageof all apartments
includingthenumber of 4's andthetotal of
thesepercentages is 244, thenumber of 4's must
berepresentedby 100%as thebase. Inorder to
findthebaseof 100%representingthenumber of
4's. wehavetodivide437by 244%, whichgives
us 179.0984. Thus wecan work out atable
showingthe number of eachtypeapartment,
whichshouldlook as follows:
Typeof Number of Roundedout to
Apartment
Apartments thenearest figu
2
8.9549
9
2*'s
12.5369 13
3's
26.8647
27
3i's
35.8197
36
4's
179.0984 179
4fs
87.7582 U
5's
59.1024 59
54's
21.4918
21
6's
53729
5
Total
436.9799
437
114
7', Thereareonly 5numbers that canbereadupside
down0,1, 6, 8and9. Nowweonly haveto
arrangethesenumbers so that whenturnedupside
downtheresult will belarger by 78633. With
someexperiment wewill findthat thenumber is
10968whichis 89601, inverted.
72. Hesold onefor Rs. 600losing20%onthe
transaction. So hemust havepaid Rs. 750
for that latheandsincehemade20%profit on
theother machinehemust havebought it for
Rs. 500. Thereforehis total loss is Rs. 50.
73. A brick weighed 3lbs. Therefore, 16brickt
weighed48lbs and11bricks 33pounds. Multi-
plying48by 33andtakingthesquareroot we
get 39.79. Thegirl's weight must havebeen
about 3979pounds.
74. Inthefirst threepickings youmay get 1of each
colour, onthe4thpick theremust beat least
twoof onecolour.
Thereforetheanswer is 4.
75. As thedifferencebetweentwicethenumber and
half of it amounts to45, or half of thenumber
plus thewhole of it representedby 1adds
upto45,
i +t=i +-f =-f-=
4 5
us
Nowwehavetofindwhat number JL is equal
j
of 45. To do this weinvert -y to and multi-
ply by 45. This gives us
f X 45=30
Therefore30is thenumber.
76, Eleven minutes. The twelfth piecedoes not
requiresawing.
77. Thetrainschedulemust havebeeninthefollow-
ingmanner:
Churcbgatetrainintothestationat 1.00P.M.
AndBandratrainat 1.01P.M.
Churcbgatetrainintothestationat 1.10P.M.
AndBandratrainat 1.11P.M.
Churchgatetrainintothestationat 1.20P.M.
AndBandratrainat 1.21P.M.
andso forth.
This way eachtrainwouldbearrivingevery ten
minutes but his chances of gettingtheChurchgate
trainwouldbe9times as great as of gettingon
theBandratrain, becauseif hearrives inthe
stationbetween1.20P.M. and 1.21P.M. hegoes
ontheBandratrainbut if hearrives between
1.21P.M. and1.30P.M. hegoes toChurchgate.
78. 14and20.
r.6
79. Thewriters spent Rs. 350, thedoctors alsospent
Rs. 350, the dentists spent Rs. 420and the
bank employees spent Rs. 210. Thus they spent
altogether Rs. 1330. Thefivewriters spent as
muchas four doctors, twelvedoctors spent as
muchas ninedentists, andsix dentists as muchas
eight bank employees.
SO. I must haveenteredthestorewithRs. 99.98in
my purse.
81. Let's assumeP is acointhat's knowntobe
perfect. Thesolutiontothis problemruns as
follows:
120
1st weighing ... 4Q' 40 40
.1
2ndweighing ... 13+PL- 141 3
| I
3rdweighing . .. 4+PJ 5 4
1
4thweighing ... 1+Pi 2 1
Andinthefifthandthelast weighingwedeter-
minetheactual faulty coin.
117
82. Thecontainer wouldbehalf full onthe9thday.
Sincethenumber of bacteriadoubles eachday,
thecontainer shouldbehalf full ontheday before
it becamefull.
83. ShepherdGopal hadonesheeponly:
84. 120.
85. A simplegeneral solutiontothis problemwould
beas follows:
Let's assumetherearennumber of players. Then
theamount heldby every player at theendwill
bem(2
n
), andthelast winner must haveheldat
thestart m(n+l), thenext m(2n+l), thenext
m(4n+1) andso ontothefirst player, who must
haveheldm(2
n
-
1
n+l).
Therefore, inthis case, n=7
Andtheamount heldby every player at theend
was 2
7
quarter'of arupeepieces.
Thereforem=1
Govindstartedwith8quarter of arupeepieces or
Rs. 2.
Fakhruddinstartedwith 15quarter of arupee
pieces or Rs. 3.75.
Edwardstartedwith29quarter of arupeepieces
or Rs. 7.25.
Dev startedwith57quarter of arupeepieces or
Rs. 1425.
Chunder startedwith 113quarter of a rupee
pieces or Rs. 28.25.
lis
Binoy startedwith225quarter of arupeepieces
or Rs. 56.25.
Arunstartedwith449quarter of arupeepieces
or Rs. 112.25.
86. RamRakhanworked for 16f days andidled
13$days.
His salary at Rs. 240per 30day monthworks
out toRs. 8aday. At Rs. 8aday, working
16 days he earned Rs. 133.33andidling13
days helost also Rs. 133.33. Thereforeneither
owedtheother anything.
87. Thepersonwho must movewhenthereare5
matchsticks must losethegame, becauseif that
personremoves onematchstick theother person
will taketheremaining4, andif that persontakes
twotheopponent will taketheremaining3, so on
andso forth. Therefore, thepersonwho moves
v. henthereare10or 15matchsticks must lose.
Theonly correct way tomakethefirst moveis to
takeaway 2matchsticks andreducethepileto
15, thenno matter what your opponent does on
his move, youreducethepileto 10, thento15
andlastly youtaketheremainingmatchsticks.
88. Theratioof thefather andson's ageis now4to
I, and30years fromnowit will be2toI. The
periodof thirty years equals thedifferenceof the
119
tworatios or 2to 1. Therefore30x2=60, the
fathers ageand 30=15, theson's age.
89. First I was offered16guavas for Rs. 1.20. That
wouldhavebeenat therateof 90paise-adozen.
Thptwoextraguavas gaveme 18for Rs. 1.20,
whichis at therateof eighty paiseadozen, which
amounts toten paise a dozenless thanthe
original price ittled.
90.

f t
91. 1had " 50paisecoin, one25paisecoinand
four 10p
:
secoins.
92. Let's consider theyear 1948. Forty eight has the
followingfactors:
24 and 2 i.e. 24thof February
4 and 12 i.e. <4thof December
and 12tbof April
16 and 3 ie. 16thof March
6 and 8 i.e. 6thof August or
8thof June
andgivingsix occasions. Theyears 36, 48, 60
and72eachgive six occasions whereas the
greatest number of occasions is givenby 24
sevenoccasions.
93. The bucket full of half soveriegngoldpieces
areworthmoresincethedenominations of the
goldpieces makeno difference. What is most
important hereis the bucket containinghalf
soveriegngoldpieces is full of goldwhereas the
other oneis only half full.
94. Doubletheproduct of thetwodistances fromthe
wall andyouget 144, whichis thesquareof 12.
Thesumof thetwodistances is 17, andwhenwe
addthesetwonumbers 12and 17together and
alsosubtract onefromtheother, weget thetwo
answers that 29or S as theradius, or half dia-
meter of thetable. Naturally the/ull diameter
shouldbe58" or 10". However atableof the
latter dimensions cannot bea'largecircular table*
andthereforethetablemust be58" indiameter.
121
95.
96. Let's assumeX is oneof thenumbers and Y the
other.
122
Then:
X
2
Y
2
=51
X Y= 3
6Y +9=51
X =Y+3
(Y+3) (Y+3) - Y
6Y =42
Y =7
and X =10.
V
98. Sincethesquirrel climbs 5ft. inascending4ft.
of thepole, hetravels 20ft. inclimbing16ft.
99. Theman's rateof speedis 4^iles anhour to the
woman's 3miles andthereforetheir total rateis
7miles anhour. Sincethey are63miles apart
they cancover anaverageof 9miles inonehour.
Therefore9x4=36, number of miles travelled
by ihemanand9x 3=27miles thedistance
travelledby thewoman.
100. Thethreemensbatcu thebeer equally andso
erchdrank the contents of 2 bottles. There-
forethomanwho hadK 15bottles contribat
!
21i andthemai>wno had paid for
124
bottles contributed $of thebottle, tomakeup
thethirdman's share.
Thefirst man's contributionis 7times that of the
second andthereforehegets Rs. 7and ti e
latter Rs. 1.
101. Thewoman's ageis 45years &ndher husband's 54.
102.
103. Whenthetrains aremovinginoppositedirection?,
they arepassingeachother withthecombined
speeds of thetwotrains. Hencewhengoingin
thesamedirection, the'passingspeed' is thespeed
of thepassenger speedminus t hespeedof the
125
freight train.
I:' thepassenger goes twiceas fast as thefreight
train, thenthepassingspeedwhengoinginthe
oppositedirections will be2plus ! or 3compared
with2minus 1or i whenthetrains aregoingin
thesamedirections
Therefore, theanswer is tw>eas fast.
104. Yr.s only answer is that therewere5oldpersons,
25youngpersons and70children.
105. 3M- 3+-f-
206. :ierewere72bees.
1C7. Thecandles must haveburnt for threehours and
t; reequarters as onecandlehadone-sixteenthof
Kbtotal lengthleft andtheother four-sixteenths.
126
108.
109. 2$goats.
Thefirst manpaidRs. 180andthesecondman
Rs. 320.
110. Thecrewcanrow-y- of thedistanceper minute
onstill water andthestreamdoes half that
distanceper minute.
Thedifferenceandsumof thesetwofractions are
-gj- and-JF- Hence, against thestreamwould
take minutes andwithstream minutes.
Thecorrect answer is 3-rr minutes.
i;:. 200feet.
127
112. Themixtureof spirits of wineandwater is inthe
proportionof 40to 1, just as intheother bottle
it was intheproportionof 1to40.
113. For thetraintopass completely throughthe
tunnel, it must travel 2miles. After 1miletravel,
thetrainwouldbecompletely inthetunnel, and
after another mileit wouldbecompletely out.
andsincethetrainis travellingat 1mileaminute,
it will take2minutes topass throughthetunnel.
114. Sinceit takes thehorseandthecow40days in
oneday of the pasture would have beea
eaten. Andsinceit takes thehorseandthesheep
60days, in1day ^ would have beengrazed,
whilesinceit takes thecowandthesheep90days
in1day 57of thepastureshould havebeen
devoured.
J . J _ , 1 19_
40 T 60 + ~ 380
gjjj- equals what 2horses, 2cows and2sheepeat
inaday and
19 2 19.
I S " 720
4ioequals what 1horse, 1cowand 1sheepeat
in1day.
As it takes 1day toeat of thecontents of the
pasture4o
wi ! 1
squire19thpart of 1day or ^
or thewholeof thecontents of thepasture<vi!l
require720times as many days.
P i 'Y - 8
or
115.
116.
117.
19: 1 :: 720: 37-Jr
Their ages wererespectively 64and20.
Whenthecar travels onemileeachof 4tires
sustainonemile's use.
Therefore, whenacar has travelled20,000miles,
atotal of SO,000tiremiles has beenused.
Sincethis mileagehas beengatheredon5tires,
eachtiremust havebeenusedfor 16,000miles.
Dividethefigureupinto 12equal triangles, as
showninthesketchandfollowthedirectionof
thecuts as indicatedby theheavy lines.
444+444+44+44+4+4+4+4+4+4
129
119. 10
2
6
a
=10036=64=4
J
10
s
6
s
=1000216=784=28
2
120. 18Paise.
121. Let's call the menA BCD andtheir wives
E F GH. They must play insuchaway that no
person ever plays twicewithor against another
person.
First Court SecondCourt
1st day ADagainst BF CE against DF
2ndday AH against CF DE against BH
3rdday AF against DG BE against CH
Inthis way no manever plays withor against his
ownwife.
122. It is obvious that theseller of thetypewriter
follows theruletotakeoff three-eighths of the
priceat every reduction, andthereforeafter the
consistent reduction, thetypewriter shouldbe
next offeredfor Rs. 156.25.
123. Pineapples cost Rs. 1.'75apieceandjackfruits
Rs. 2.25.
124. Thereis only onecheapest method andthat is to
openthe4links of onesectionandthenusethese
130
links tojointheother 4sections together, which
shouldcost altogether Rs. 8.
125. Thesides of thethreeboards measure31inches,
41inches and49inches.
126. Demochares must bejust sixty years of age.
127. Theratioof Reena's agetoSeena's must beas
5to3.
Sincethesumof their ageis 44, Reenamust be
27$andSeena16$.
128. Only thebox inthevery centreof thestack will
not suffer thestrokes of thepaint- brush, whereas
all theother 26boxes will haveat least oneside
painted. '
129. No, 6is not theanswer! It is not correct,
becauseafter the6cigarettes havebeensmoked
therewill againbe6butts whichcanbemade
intoanother cigarette.
Theanswer is 7.
130. Thedriver's number was 121.
131. Thefirst andsecondlabourers shouldeachtakea
cratewiththeformer carryinghis loadonemile
andturningit over tothethird, who will carry it
131
twomiles. Thenthesecondlabourer shouldcarry
his cratetwomiles andturnit over tothefirst,
who will thencarry it onemile. Thus each
carries acrate2miles.
Thefollowingsolutionin eleven manipulations
shbws thecontents of every vessel at thestart and
after every manipulation:
10Quart 10Quart
5Quart J Quart
10 10 0 0
5 10 5 0
5 10 1 4
9 10 1 0
9 6 1 4
9 7 0 4
9 7 4 0
9 3 4 4
9 3 5 3
9 8 0 3
4
8 5 3
4 10 3 3
133.
134. Thenumber of bees areIS.
135. Every timeamatchis held, oneplayer is elimi-
natedandtoeliminate29of the30players, 29
matches arerequired.
136. 20triangles.
137. 348miles in12days.
133
138. FromtheJews abodetheChristianandtheTurk
set out onatour roundtheworld, theChristian
goingdueeast andtheTurk duewest. This way
theChristiangains aday andtheTurk loses a
aday. So that whenthey meet againat thehouse
of theJewtheir reckoningwill agreewithhis and
all threemay keeptheir Sabbathonthesame
day.
139. Thecanvas must be10inches inwidthand20
inches inheight andthepictureitself 6inches
wideand12inches high.
140. Withsometrial onewill find987652413as the
highest possiblenumber containing9of the10
digits that is divisibleby 11, without aremainder.
141. Half thesumof thesides is 29andfromthis we
deduct thesides inturn, whichgives us 9, 13, 17,
19, whichwhenmultipliedtogether make37791.
Thesquareroot of this number is 194.4.
194.4squarerods will betheanswer.
142. 30squares.
143. Hebought at least 1mule, 1ox, 2gpats and
1pig*
Other answers arepossible.
134
144. Assuming only 4 mangoes remained iathe
morning, this wouldmeanthat thethirdboy must
havefound7mangoes left whenhegot at the
basket. But 7is not f of awholenumber, so
this is impossible.
Thenext possibility is 7mangoes left ia the
morning, whichis againimpossible.
Nowthenext possibility is 10, whichis }of 15.
This means that thethirdboy found 16mangoes,
took oneandthentook 5more. Thesecondboy
thenmust havefound25mangoes, takenoneand
thentaken8more. But 25is not f of awhole
number andthereforethe assumption that 10
mangoes remainedinthemorningis absurd.
By similar reasoningthenumbers 13, 16and19
canbeeliminated, but 22will befoundtomeet
therequiredconditions.
Thethirdboy found34, took oneand* left j of
33or 22, thesecondboy found52, took oneand
left | of 51or 34, thefirst boy found79took 1
andleft | of 78or 52.
Theanswer is the boys stole altogether 79
mangoes.
145. Thenumbers of thehouses oneachsidewill add
upalikeif thenuniber of thehousebe1and
thereareno other houses, andif thenumber be
6with8houses inall, if 35with49bouses, if 204
with288houses, if 1189with1681houses andso
on. But weknowthat thereweremorethanSC
andlesser than500houses, andso wearelimitei
toasinglecase.
Thenumber of thehousemust be204.
135
146. 25" paise+50paise+100paise=175paiseana
Rs. 700=70000paise
400
400is thenumber for eachdenomination.
14? It cannot bedoneinless than six cuts, because
thecubewhichis formedinthemiddleof the
original cubehas no exposedsurface.
Sinceacubehas 6sides, thesawmust createthis
cubeby 6passes of thesaw, no matter howthe
slices arerearranged.
148 Onetrainwas runningjust twiceas fast as the
other.
149. Besides several other answers, the smallest
numbers that satisfies theconditions are:
a=10430, b=3970, c =2114, d=386
a+b=10430+3970=14400=120
2
a+c =10430+2114=12544=112*
a+d =10430+386=10816=I04
2
b+c = 3970+2114= 6084= 78
2
b+d= 3970+386= 4356= 66
s
c+d = 2114+386= 2500= 50
2
a+b+c+d=10430+3970+2114=386 =
16900=130*
150. 45years.
4
"...engrossi ng and ent ert ai ni ng...
of i nt erest f or al l "
The Statesman
Shakuntala Devi
PUZZLES TO PUZZLE
YOU
Shakuntala Devi is a world famous
mathematical prodigy who has for years
dazzled international audiences by her
incredible feats of computing. Recently, she
took only fifty seconds to calculate the
twenty-third root of a 201 digit number. To
verify her answer, a computer in Washington
programmed with over 13,000 instructions
took ten seconds longer !
Shakuntala Devi firmly believes that
mathematics can be great fun for everybody.
The 150 puzzles included in this book are
enjoyable excercises in reason intended to'
sharpen your wits. Not only would you enjoy
pitting yourself against the author's ingenuity
but the puzzles would also provide great party
entertainment for your family and friends.
ORIENT PAPERBACKS